8 tips for successful digital meetings
Right now, many people work from home and need to find effective solutions to the meetings they have booked. With an ambition to slow down the spread of infection by Covid-19 (Corona), everyday life is now trying to adapt to the new normal - at least normal for what is expected to continue for a while. However, the need to communicate with each other still exists and many businesses need to find ways to continue working. Below we have compiled some tips on how to turn your physical meetings into more effective and digital meetings.
Save time and stay for shorter meetings
Holding a digital meeting can be more time-efficient than a physical one, because it places more demands on participants about attendance and focus on the meeting. Please stick to more shorter meetings than get long and focus on one / a few points at a time, then you will facilitate the participants to be able to keep up and stay focused during the meeting.
Clarity is the key.
When you hold a virtual meeting, it is usually more demanding that the dialogue becomes clearer. No cold talk about the weather or how the coffee tastes is appreciated here! Clarity can mean that you reinforce what you are talking about with a presentation and only speak about the points contained in it. It can also mean that the participants need to prepare for the meeting in a different way, especially if you are used to just slipping in and assuming that the rapporteur should draw a background on all points ...
… Preparation, preparation
Think about what participants need to know before and see during meeting. Do the participants need to read something before the meeting in order to prepare? Everything you come up with is important, collect these and send to the participants a few days before the meeting. Even if they do not need to do anything concrete, it is good if you send out a note about it, you have already set up a guideline there and the participants know what is expected of them.
Give each other some space
Maybe not what you think we mean by space, what we mean here is to give all participants room in the meeting to make themselves heard and maintain a structure in the meeting. If you are showing a presentation, have slides where it is clearly stated the speaker arrangement or who should talk when. In this way, you make the participants feel more comfortable during the meeting and hang out much better (keeps focus).
Cam, set, go!
A digital meeting can be so much nicer if the participants have the opportunity to see each other. On the one hand, we can be a bit thirsty after social contact with others during these times, and on the other, it makes it easier to feel involved and that everyone has a place in the meeting. Be sure to turn off the microphone when you are not talking - no one wants to hear your dog bark in the background or your intense button ringing on the computer.
Yes, no or in between
Since it is more difficult to read body language during digital meetings, ask participants to clearly answer questions. We do not want a long and drawn out monologue (which it can easily be if the participants do not take / can take a seat) and therefore it is very good to take shorter breaks to tune in that everyone is hanging out, can answer questions and even ask questions!
Clearly, what do I do now?
Congratulations on having your digital meeting, it feels like we are almost in the future ... What, on the other hand, can lock us back to reality right fast is if someone has had some bad reception and thus missed half the meeting (it happens and there is no danger!). Please send a summary of important things that were raised during the meeting - activities, dates, decisions, etc. - to all participants. Less risk of misunderstanding and greater chance of understanding.
The wonders of technology!
Think outside the box and find out what different technical possibilities and tools are currently being offered. Maybe it's a tool for presentations, polls, surveys or training - whatever your purpose for your gathering is, there are plenty of exciting opportunities out there to look for. Maybe it's now that you have the time to hone your meeting technique?
Good luck in your meetings now! Book a digital meeting with Anna Wigsén to ask more about meetings remotely and more tricks.