In modern business, many meetings are organized online. This allows you to communicate with people who are at any distance from each other. Business meeting formats require logging. During virtual meetings, special services perform this automatically – with voice recordings, and often with transcription into text. However, with high advantages, equipment failures and malfunctions, poor communication are possible. Therefore, the choice of software and hardware for the meeting is crucial. It is even more important to have an analysis of meetings and records.
What are online meetings?
An online meeting is a new format in business communication, when the connection takes place via videoconference on the Internet. Specialized applications are used. The location of the participants can be any – office, home, trip to any region. Everyone will be connected by a common online platform, everyone sees and hears all the participants, if necessary, takes the floor and speaks. In addition to direct video communication, files and documents are exchanged using a shared chat.
For companies, online meetings can be used both for internal events (reports, team meetings, brainstorms) and for external relations (partner negotiations, presentations to clients, representative and training webinars). This virtual format is convenient for reports and discussions, interactive surveys, and online collaboration boards.
Advantages of online meetings
Virtual meetings have a number of advantageous advantages:
- Budget and time are saved – personally and for the company. There is no loss of hours on the roads, traffic jams, or organization of special business trips. All participants are connected from anywhere in the world. Meetings via the Internet are an ideal format for negotiations with far-flung partners. They allow you to organize a meeting between a company whose business is divided into divisions from different cities and employees working remotely.
- The information about the meeting is saved in full. If participants leave offline events with only their notes and a general protocol, then after the online meeting, a recording is saved – in video and audio formats, with text transcription. In the agreed form, the materials are sent to the participants and archived in databases. You can always return to them for analysis by colleagues who were not present at the event.
- The interactive mode promotes engagement. Modern platforms support the demonstration of screens, the ability to edit documents together and vote. If a marketing campaign is being discussed, the display of advertising creatives may be included right during the negotiation process, with edits made in real time. Most applications support parallel text chat in conferences – participants express their positions and opinions right during the discussions without interrupting the main negotiations.
- Flexibility of capabilities for different tasks. When negotiating on earth, meeting rooms and halls are limited to the capacity of participants. Online platforms can involve from several people, up to several hundred and thousands. The possibilities may be limited only financially.
In addition to all the benefits, virtual meeting rooms do not need the maintenance of premises and staff to keep them clean and functional.
Video conferencing formats
With the help of video platforms, various events can be held depending on the requests of the company.
The mode of meetings and planning meetings
In this most common format, meetings are held to discuss tasks, coordinate projects, and quickly coordinate a team. For example, a marketing agency holds a staff meeting in the morning for fifteen minutes. In these short negotiations, employees are provided with feedback from the supervisor and a review of plans. Or the management of departments of a large enterprise meets weekly.
Webinar modes with training sessions
In this format, products are presented, educational courses and corporate training are conducted. During the presentations, the speakers use slides, and videos are shown on the screens. Participants or the audience can ask questions both by voice and in text chat. For example, an online school conducts webinars with the basics of entrepreneurship, or how to build a personal brand.
Conducting workshops and brainstorming sessions
If it is necessary to actively involve the people participating in the meeting, an interactive communication format is used. In a strategic session, you can analyze a marketing strategy, or brainstorming to generate ideas. In such cases, a useful feature is the demonstration of their screens by the speakers (taking the floor) participants.
During such conference calls, it will be convenient to use Holst and Flip services, which have replaced Miro. Thanks to their capabilities, team members work in parallel with virtual whiteboards, add their comments, and vote on the best suggestions and solutions.
Effective organization and holding of online meetings
Conducting virtual meetings requires comprehensive preparation for a number of parameters.
Choosing a platform
The service should be selected for an online meeting based on how many participants there will be, in what format the communication will take place, and the necessary technical requirements. If a virtual room is chosen for more people than necessary, then extra funds will be spent.
If the company is holding a meeting with 5-10 employees, and the meeting does not require complex functions, then using a regular messenger is suitable for making a group call. People will communicate and exchange materials in the chat.
But to hold a webinar for more than 100 people who want to participate (up to 300), you will need a more functional webinar room, with screen streaming capabilities and a chat for so many people – Webinar.ru .
If 1-2 thousand people are planning to participate, then a more serious platform will be needed – Pruffme. For example, Zoom allows webinars for up to 1 million people.
Online meeting plan
This is an important part, without which the event can be excessively delayed, or move away from the main topic to the sides. To avoid such situations, the following is required:
- Formation of the agenda. It defines the list of issues planned for discussion, the order of their consideration, and the order of each speaker’s speeches. The agenda should be followed throughout the event. If the topic is how the brand is being promoted, the advertising campaigns with their results should be dealt with first, the next consideration is ideas and plans for further development, how to promote a marketing strategy.
- Timing planning. It will be optimal to allocate time for each item on the agenda. A timed event plan should be sent out in advance to everyone who will participate in the meeting. Compliance with the planned time frame is required. It is important to take into account the time zones of those who will participate when planning the start.
- Selection of the material. Preliminary preparation of materials is required for presentations and reports. They need to be sent out before starting. Each participant will need time to familiarize themselves in order to prepare for the discussion and prepare a list of questions. This will eliminate delays and surprises during the discussion.
- If the head of the marketing department plans to discuss an advertising strategy, he will need to send an analytical report on past campaigns. The participants will know the data in advance, and they will be ready to discuss it immediately.
- Checking the technical part. First, you need to check the stability of the Internet connection, whether the future participants have installed the necessary application for the online meeting. It is necessary to check the functionality of the virtual platform: how microphones and cameras work, conference mode. During the planned demonstration of the screens by the participants, check the settings of their access to this function.
Defining norms of behavior
For general organization, it is necessary to inform future conference delegates of the procedure and rules adopted for such events in order to avoid unplanned delays or incidents, as well as technical overlaps.:
- When more than 5 people are participating, it is necessary to turn off the microphones for those who are not speaking so that background noise does not occur.
- Questions are asked in the chat, and the speaker will answer them after his main speech. Therefore, you do not need to repeat your questions many times, do not download the chat. The moderator of the meeting will remind you about this in the text chat.
- If it is necessary to vote or collect feedback, the audience must be prepared for this beforehand.
Participants should be involved during the event
With a large number of participants in the discussion, the productivity of the meeting will increase. The audience needs to be brought out of the state of passive listening by periodic questions, suggestions of different answers, and calls to post them in the chat. Organize voting, work using interactive whiteboards and public documents.
Support for interaction after an online meeting
It is recommended to use additional communication channels after the event is over:
- If a new project is presented, you will need to create a chat so that the team can discuss the topic and ask questions via messenger.
- When the webinar is over, send out his notes with materials for the participants to repeat the key questions.
- If a business meeting has taken place, final messages (fall-up) are sent to those who participated in it.
With this approach, online events will no longer be performances or conversations. They will turn into a great tool that you can work with effectively.
How to make a fall-up correctly
The term follow-up refers to short summary messages from the initiators (speakers) sent online after the event. They are a reflection of the key aspects and agreements reached. They show the possible distribution of responsibilities or functions. They serve to ensure that participants at all levels record these theses at home. This way misunderstandings will be eliminated in the future. Participants feel responsible and accelerate the completion of tasks.
Fall-ups are sent after meetings, negotiations or brainstorming sessions have been held, and a deal has been concluded. In this notification, it is necessary to place:
- A brief summary, listing the central aspects along with the decisions taken. For example, after the discussion, an advertising campaign is planned for the selected promotion channels, with an approved budget and deadlines.
- The planned tasks and responsible persons, with deadlines for each task. For example, Ivanov is scheduled to prepare a media promotion plan on April 15. Petrova has been assigned to coordinate creative ideas for the project with the customer by May 20.
- Additional materials mentioned during the event, which are not available to those present. They must be attached to the notification.
- If a deal has been concluded, please remind us of the amount of the concluded agreement, the payment terms, and who will conduct the transaction.
- Specify the time and date of the next meeting by agreement.
Sending a fall-up is done in an email, via messenger, or in a corporate chat. Its structure and clarity are important for an unambiguous understanding.
Applications for online meetings
These applications have extensive capabilities for broadcasting in video and audio, text formats, as well as saving and analyzing materials and recordings.
Mango Talker
This Russian multifunctional business switch has a built-in virtual PBX from its developer MANGO OFFICE. An excellent solution for corporate messenger within companies, and for external relations with counterparties.
Allows you to use the functions:
- Working with the client audience. Receive calls, send text messages, record conversations and online meetings.
- Corporate communication: through the address book with employees, through chats and free calls, audio and video conferences.
- Share materials with file sizes of no more than 2 GB, with infinite storage.
- Show screens with videos and presentations, background settings.
- Integrate with common CRM systems, including Bitrix24 and amoCRM.
- Synchronize information, including message and call history, with access to any device.
It is important that Mango is convenient for companies with any turnover and directions. To connect via links, you do not need to register and install the application. At the same time, it works with all popular operating systems, both desktop and mobile.
Zoom
It has become a popular platform for online conferences in video formats, hosting up to a million guests at the event. It works in paid and free modes. Convenient with its advantages:
- Adaptive video and audio transmission even with weak internet connection.
- Storing records internally and in the cloud.
- You can use electronic document management and interactive whiteboards.
- The moderation mode of the participants.
- Integration with CRM, Google calendars and Outlook.
In the free mode, the room can accommodate only up to 100 guests, for no more than 40 minutes.
Skype
A long-popular service with audio and video calls, chats, running on computers and smartphones, for groups of no more than 50 people. You can share text, video, and audio files, graphics, photos, and presentations in chat rooms.
Allows you to record meetings and calls.
Starting in May 2025, the service will no longer work for free, but it remains just for business users. Free clients will be able to transfer with all accounts and contacts, materials to Microsoft Teams.
Google Meet
The service also supports and records video and audio calls for 100 subscribers for free (no more than an hour), and for 500 for a fee. You do not need to install the application, as in Skype, it works from browsers. It works with interactive whiteboards and documents, has noise reduction and information protection functions according to corporate standards.
Yandex.Teleconference
The service holds video conferences and meetings, webinars and meetings with chat, recordings and file sharing. It works from Yandex browsers indefinitely. You can control cameras and microphones, schedule meetings according to a calendar, and notify participants of the date and time.
AI-powered services that automatically record and analyze materials during and after online conversations
The best in this category with AI right now are Fireflies, Wudpecker, Tldv, Follow up.
Fireflies
The service automates and optimizes the work of online meetings, creating memories of them. Performs the following:
- Records video and audio events.
- Transcribes all conversations into an easy-to-read text for analysis.
- Searches for and analyzes key points based on recorded data.
- Integrates with other similar conference services (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams from Microsoft).
Premium access has extended functionality for teams, and Recordings are generated with high quality.
Wudpecker
His AI helps prepare meetings, generates agendas and templates with materials. Generates recordings, transcribed text, and meeting minutes. Shares the main aspects of the meeting. Organizes shared access to recordings directly on the platform. It works with PCs and mobile devices. Simple and easy to use.
Tldv
Records, transcribes, and analyzes online meetings on all leading video conferencing platforms, including Google Meet and Zoom. Cross recordings and transcriptions, creates notes and summaries with short summaries, key conclusions from meetings.
Performs reports on multiple meetings, helping to make strategic decisions.
Integrates with six thousand tools and CRM to work together. Suitable for teamwork and online learning schools.
Follow up
The expanded comprehensive service logs, monitors and analyzes the quality of video conferences. It integrates with the listed platforms, as well as with Skype and the Yandex Teleconference. The output is detailed protocols and analytics, high efficiency. In addition to the main functions, it performs:
- Automatically connect to meetings using calendar links.
- Fixing tasks with deadlines and responsible persons.
- Forming a short summary of voluminous conference materials. They include agreements and key points.
- Sending documents with protocols and Sammari to all or specified recipients via selected channels – e-mail, Telegram, WhatsApp.
- High-quality assessments based on meetings. Recommendations on how to improve communication.
Users from their personal account can review the minutes of past meetings and study the analytics on them, debug settings for integrations with logging formats.
Conclusion
At online meetings in the form of meetings and meetings, videoconferences and webinars, participants can communicate remotely at any distance. They are implemented through special platforms and an Internet connection. This is a significant time and cost savings for events of any scale.
To organize a productive meeting online, a suitable platform is selected, the timing is calculated, and the rules of participation for the delegates are presented. On such modern platforms, in addition to voice communication and video, it is possible to work with electronic documentation in the public domain, analyze meetings and all materials after the end of the event.
