The practice of remote meetings is quite old, but only recently such meetings have become widely used in various companies. This was largely influenced by the pandemic that hit the whole world. Now online meetings are a standard tool of any company that helps establish communication between departments and individual employees, wherever they are.
What are online meetings?
Online meetings are meetings in a remote format that are held using support programs and allow people to share any information, regardless of where they are. There are quite a lot of platforms for organizing such meetings today, the most popular of them are Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Google Meet and others.
Online vs. Offline: key differences
It can be considered that events in online and offline formats are similar, but at the same time very different from each other. For example:
- Location and mobility. If all participants must gather at the same time in one place to participate in an offline event, then participants from anywhere in the world can connect to the meeting in a remote format.
- Time and resources. In order to hold an in-person meeting, the organizers must spend certain resources, for example, organize a meeting, provide water, visual materials, and so on. Participants, in turn, must spend money and their time to arrive at the event. Unlike the remote format, where it’s easy enough to connect while at home.
- Interactivity. In person, you can conduct various active interactions between the participants in order to rally the team. However, the remote control allows you to use technology to your advantage, also providing visibility of information if necessary.
- Organizational issues. To gather employees for an online meeting, you do not need many complicated actions, it is enough to send an invitation and provide details. Unlike face-to-face events, which often require renting a spacious hall, providing food and other things.
- Data security. When the event ends in person, if the participant did not take notes in the process, he will not be able to refresh important moments in his memory. The same cannot be said about remote ones, where you can record everything that happens and refer to it if necessary.
As a result, each company determines personally which format allows it to cover all needs.
Online meeting formats
Meetings can be held in various formats, depending on the purpose pursued by the organizer:
- Seminars. They imply the performance of one or more speakers in front of the public, the option of interacting with the audience is most often one-sided, communication is organized through a chat.
- Meetings. In this case, the participants actively interact with each other, discuss, and exchange opinions.
- Conferences. As part of the conferences, which can last several days, events of various formats are usually held. For example, sessions, discussion panels, speaker presentations, even exhibitions.
- Workshops and working groups. As part of such events, a group of people solves a common question or task, gets new skills, under the guidance of a more experienced curator.
- Conversations. Ordinary conversations can be organized for an informal purpose. Quickly discuss pressing topics, hold a meeting, work together on one task in a relaxed atmosphere.
- Brainstorming sessions. When a group is faced with a new task, they can organize a similar meeting to find a way to implement the project, through collaboration and common ideas.
Events can be personal and work, individual and group. Organizing a work meeting is often more difficult. This format requires attention to detail. The event should be meaningful, which means that you need to prepare the material in advance.
If, at a general meeting, employees can jointly discuss issues with management, then personal calls allow face-to-face discussion of sensitive topics that should not be communicated to the general public.
Preparation and organization
Preparing a meeting in advance significantly reduces the likelihood that difficulties will arise. We have prepared some practical recommendations that will help you better organize the event.
Choose a platform
Choosing a stable platform is half the battle. It must meet security requirements, have auxiliary functions, and multimedia diversity to ensure visibility. Test the service. Study the tools and set the settings so that you don’t waste time on it afterwards. It will be good if it is possible to record the event.
Preparation and planning
To make sure everything goes well, take the time to plan. Make a clear plan that you will follow during the session. Send a short plan to all participants at least one day before the event, so that they also have the opportunity to prepare and make their schedules.
The plan, in addition to topics for conversations, should have a timing, which does not allow you to go beyond the time frame. Set aside time for informal communication and discussion of details after all the main issues.
Formation of norms of behavior
Thanks to the rules, it is possible to keep order. This is also suitable for online events. When all the invitees are connected, take a few minutes for a brief introduction to the rules of conduct during the session. This can be a verbal presentation or a decorated slide with a brief description of the norms:
- participants should introduce themselves at the beginning, which is important for unfamiliar interlocutors;
- ask everyone to be polite to each other, if this is a joint discussion, then the interlocutors should not interrupt each other;
- let the participants turn off their gadgets for a while, do not be distracted by personal calls and other matters that do not concern the meeting;
- note for everyone that it is desirable to find a quiet place where no one will bother and there will be no noise to connect.
Involve your participants in the process
The activity of the participants should not be ignored. The more actively the participants participate in the discussion, the more fruitful the meeting will be. To trigger the activity of the interlocutors, you can use the following techniques:
- assign tasks to everyone before the meeting starts, let everyone talk about a specific topic, present a presentation, someone can take notes;
- ask questions to the audience so that they have the opportunity to speak out and share their opinions after each topic they have discussed;
- Use visual tools to help keep the attention of the participants, especially when discussing complex topics and processes.
Maintain interaction after the meeting
It is not enough to hold a meeting for productive work, it is necessary that in the end it gives a result, and for this you need to interact with the team after the call. The easiest way to establish unobtrusive communication is through sending emails. They can specify:
- instructions for each participant based on the results;
- clear deadlines for the execution of tasks;
- schedule of future calls with a brief outline.
Ask the team to share their impressions of the call in order to form an understanding of what you did right and what should be improved.
Recommendations for conducting
Next, a few more tips:
- The meeting time should be convenient for all participants, especially if they are from different time zones;
- make a check-up of all equipment and visual materials a few minutes before the start;
- appoint a meeting leader if you plan to act as a speaker yourself, so you won’t be distracted;
- send all necessary materials to the participants before the meeting so that they can familiarize themselves;
- during your speech, speak to the point, be brief in your statements, try not to use parasitic words in your speech;
- before starting, eliminate external stimuli, the place should be quiet, without unnecessary noise, ask others not to disturb you;
- indicate to the participants the rules that they must adhere to, for example, notify them of the desire to speak out, turn off the microphone, etc.;
- use interactivity during explanations of complex topics, tools for exchanging opinions, and more.
Making a competent Follow up
The letter on the results must be properly executed. It must contain:
- date and subject of the event;
- clear results of the meeting;
- the list of those responsible for completing the assigned tasks;
- a call to share opinions and ask questions in case of ambiguity.
The letter should have a clear structure, lists, and highlights in important places so that all participants can easily navigate.
Applications for online meetings
There are many programs for online communication. They are suitable for different events. We will focus in detail on several of the most popular ones.
Zoom
The leader among users. A client with a clear interface and extensive functionality. You can install it on any device. The requirements for the device are small, it provides a stable connection. There are paid and free rates. There are more functions and features on paid ones. You can plan events in advance, there is a built-in calendar, the administrator can manage participants by adjusting their capabilities and connection to the event. Zoom is most often used, both for work meetings and in training processes.
Skype
Skype is one of the “long–livers”. The application is suitable for creating conversations of up to 50 people. It also has the ability to record a meeting, display a screen, and the free period of one call session is 240 minutes, unlike Zoom, where a call on a free tariff is forcibly interrupted every 40 minutes. Users often complain about poor communication quality, which is most likely due to higher device requirements.
Google Meet
The tool, which was originally developed exclusively for business, has already become the property of literally all gmail users. It is enough to have a valid Google account. Users can only access the web version, which can be used on any device. In Google Meet, you can create events for up to 100 people for free, use tools such as video recording, general chat, and an interactive whiteboard.
4 rules of online meetings: how not to waste the team’s time
In order for the events not to burden your interlocutors, we recommend following a few basic rules.
Meeting after the fact
It is best when the meeting is planned in advance, at least one day before the scheduled date. But there may be situations when a call is necessary at the moment, and in this case there must be good reasons for this. For example, there is a new project that urgently needs to discuss a strategy. When sending out invitations, it is necessary to clearly indicate its reason so that the need to call is clear not only to the organizer himself, but also to the rest of the participants.
Only interested employees
The meeting will be fruitful and effective only if interested parties participate in it. If the event involves the mandatory participation of specialists from different departments, it is better to plan everything step by step. Let the speakers who have already presented their speech and are not participating in further discussions leave the meeting. This way they won’t get bored themselves and distract other participants.
Prepare a plan
Structured discussion is an important necessity. Make a plan where the topics with timing will be spelled out. Those present in the process will be able to focus on it, which will make it more efficient, eliminate chaos and save time. Be sure to attach materials to the plan for review.
Summary results
To consolidate what was discussed at the online meeting, summarize its results immediately after completion by sending an appropriate letter. Attach a call recording to it so that employees can refresh their memory of important moments and complete the task more efficiently.
