Blame it on the scary pandemic, but you are now saved from the dull, long board meetings in dim or too-bright lights, listening to the speaker as if you cared for it or speaking as if it was the most crucial topic in the world! And you dare not shift your position during those meetings as it would offend the seniors, and you’d be in trouble because of your “lack of concentration!” We all got the chance to shift those offline meet-ups to virtual meetings. In this setting, the staff and goal remained the same, but the medium of the meeting shifted from the physical setting to the online environment. Now, these virtual meetings happen at a scheduled time on Zoom Calls, Google Meets, or other such platforms.
So far, we have all adjusted to this concept of virtual meetings. But since the speakers and listeners lack close proximity, almost all members start losing interest in the meet-ups. This brings a new challenge to the meeting organizers – how to make the virtual meetings interesting? And if these meetings are interesting, they will definitely motivate the participants to work actively, vigorously, and enthusiastically and increase the company’s productivity. But this is easier said than done. Making the virtual meetings productive without wastage time seems almost impossible unless you follow these guidelines:
Prepare Beforehand
Preparing everything beforehand is the first step to holding a profitable and beneficial virtual meeting. Whether it is your agenda for holding the meeting or planning the schedule step by step, it is essential to have a clear and concise idea of how things will work out during the one or 2-hour virtual meeting so that you are less confused when it happens. This keeps you confident throughout the meeting and saves lots of time that is otherwise wasted to sort things out when you are online. This includes sorting out all the PPT files or documents you will share in the meeting and organizing them to access them easily in the meeting. It is also essential to follow the schedule that you prepared beforehand during the meeting for increased productivity.
Have A Stable Connection
An unstable connection is the one thing that definitely affects your virtual meeting productivity. If you or any of your members have an Internet issue, you will not gain the ultimate benefit from this virtual meeting. For your side, at least, you can ensure that your Internet router is plugged in correctly, and there should not be an audio or video disconnection during the meeting.
Choose The Best Platform For Virtual Meetings
Often, the factor affecting virtual meeting productivity essentially is the wrong platform companies choose for the meet-up. Numerous applications and websites are available online that give you access to hold a virtual meeting seamlessly. Pick the best one out of this cluster, like Google Meet or something similar, which ensures high-quality voice organization of the meeting and an easy excess for the meeting leader and the other team members. If possible, opt for the paid version of the platform that gives you uninterrupted meeting access worldwide. This obviously leads to a seamless flow of the meeting and prevents wastage of time and breaking of attention during the session.
Use Additional Remote Collaboration Tools
Virtual meetings provide better results if you can accurately explain your context and plan to the team members. For this, it is essential to use an add-on like a whiteboard in case you need to scribble the plan clearly or a polling add-on that helps you get the participants’ votes. Your meeting productivity also depends on these tools as teams often waste their time dealing with this software that either disconnects during the meet or provides a slow connection when you need it most.
Value Other’s Time
Often companies or team leaders are obsessed with their meeting schedules and plans that they extend the meetings beyond the given deadline. This distracts the members as they might have already planned for something else after the session. Obviously, you cannot expect maximum productivity if the attention is distracted and the members are no longer interested in the meeting. Also, if you are late for the meeting, you are wasting your team member’s time, hindering the session’s productivity.
Avoid Being Monotonous
In a virtual meeting setup, you are not physically present in front of your team members, which is the biggest hurdle for a productive meet-up. Additionally, if the leader discusses the agenda or gives long lectures, the members get bored and often multitask during the meeting. Ensure that you are grabbing the attention of your team members with a clear and entertaining speech. A joke here or a light pun-intended sentence breaks the monotonous feel of the meeting, bringing back your team members’ attention. Additionally, planning and creatively presenting the same boring program to your members can make the meeting enjoyable and increase productivity.
A Big No To Distractions
There can be a series of distractions during the virtual meetings. For example, high background noise or blurred video presentation, or in-chat conversations. Ensure you avoid most of these to keep your virtual meetings to the point and fruitful. From holding the meeting in a clear, quiet space to providing n strict rule of no unnecessary chats, reducing this fluff from your meeting is essential for increased productivity.
An Active Video
You cannot expect maximum productivity in virtual meetings if you are not in front of your members on the video tab. To ensure they connect with the concept and understand it deeply, make yourself present on the screen by keeping the video active throughout the meeting. For best results, see your team members do the same. This will not only make you aware of everybody’s presence and attention during the meeting, but you will also relate to each other appropriately.
The Questionnaire To Clear Doubts
Often companies organize impactful and engaging virtual meetings, but these lack productivity because of many doubts on the member’s side. To ensure that all your concept is delivered clearly and understood well, schedule a proper questionnaire or conversational discussion at the end of the meet-up. This instigates active performance from your team members and makes you aware if they understood the concept accurately. Furthermore, these question-and-answer sessions reduce mistakes and lead to the following plans as you expect.
Occasional virtual meetings are essential as they help team members connect with the company and each other. This fosters employee or team loyalty, ultimately benefiting the company. Also, these meetings are the best way to explain your side of the plans systematically to the team members. but it is essential that you don’t waste your time on unnecessary factors during these meetings; maximum benefits are derived from them. ensure that all of these are achieved in the best possible way through virtual meetings.
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