A business meeting is one of the essential management tools. It is an excellent opportunity to solve pressing problems, get a report on the work results, and outline a plan for further coordinated actions. Here are valuable tips on how to run remote meetings efficiently.
Remote meetings: basic rules for holding
You have probably experience in organizing offline events. However, the current global situation has rebuilt most companies to interact online, and this format turned out to be no less productive. Online and combined events (with online and offline interaction) are very different in structure and organization from offline events.
Virtual meetings are a vital way to communicate and act as the link between you and your team in a remote work environment. A successful remote meeting promotes team building and makes a face-to-face meeting optional. Moreover, practice shows that if offline meetings are terrible, their online version will be many times worse. In a telecommuting environment, how you conduct meetings will be critical to your team’s productivity and cohesion.
Most of the critical organizational moments of the event are determined long before its actual start. Any successful conference starts with a good idea, a clear vision, and a well-thought-out plan of action, and virtual events are no exception. However, an online event requires some specific planning nuances.
Secrets for organizing a productive online meeting
There are many working tools for organizing and conducting them to ensure that meetings do not turn into a war zone or a gathering of peacefully dormant robotics. One of the helpful tips: the effectiveness of the meeting is equal to the value of the decisions made. And this value is enhanced by the fact that decisions are made in less time and with fewer employees. That’s what we should strive for. For meetings to be efficient, it is worth following a few secrets:
1. Create a living agenda
Regarding the agenda, many employees often “sleep” during the narrator’s speech about points that do not interest them. Therefore, creating relevant topics immediately during a conversation is more cost-effective. Of course, you need to start by listing important questions. But it is necessary to start solving them in the most relevant order. It will allow employees to focus on the discussion since no one knows what issues will be discussed.
2. Choose a reliable software
Whether your event is entirely virtual or a combination, the online component is a massive part. Therefore, platforms for online events should be able to:
- create a website for the event to advertise it and register potential attendees. With the board portal, you can use the built-in registration system and automatically transfer attendees to your event;
- organize registration for the event so that visitors can register as simply as possible;
- generate automatic event invitations and other notifications.
- Remember to give thanks and keep your colleagues motivated
One of the Gartner teams recently celebrated their accomplishments by hosting a virtual party: the manager called all the participants, sent them a Starbucks gift certificate for everyone to choose their favorite drink, and played music during the call so everyone could relax and unwind.
3. Check the involvement of participants
An effective meeting requires participants to participate, not just be present actively. Therefore, to conduct a fruitful meeting, it is necessary to consider the compatibility of people with different characters, temperaments, and behavioral styles.
4. Record results, analysis, task completion
The decisions taken at the meeting should be recorded in the minutes. The meeting is successful if they meet the planned time frame, pass all the agenda items, set tasks and deadlines, and appoint responsible persons.