Video meetings take effort. Even if you are a seasoned host of online meetings and Skype has been an inseparable part of your working days, the various video call solutions can’t be as effective as face-to-face meetings.
I share with you some tips on how to make online meetings more effective and enjoyable.
Preparing an online meeting
A large part of the recipe for an enjoyable online meeting (as for an ordinary meeting) lies in preparation. What to pay attention to when preparing an online meeting:
- Write the purpose of the online meeting concretely and clearly in the invitation
As worn out as it may sound, it all starts here: write the purpose of the meeting concretely and clearly in the online meeting invitation. What will you discuss and what not? What result do you want to reach (a decision, options, an exchange of information or similar)?
You also need to think carefully about who creates value in this online meeting and with what. It is deadly boring to take part in an online meeting where the topic that concerns you is only discussed at the very end. Think carefully about who is needed for which topic and invite them precisely for the discussion of that topic, rather than letting them sit and get bored listening to the whole meeting.
2. Ask participants to prepare on content and technology, and to test
An effective online meeting depends on participants’ preparation. If you have come together over a video link to discuss, say, an action plan, it is a waste of time if participants only start reading the action plan at the beginning of the online meeting. Ask participants to do the necessary groundwork before the meeting – for example, to send their proposals or questions in advance.
Where technology is involved, there are glitches. If the online meeting includes people who haven’t used a particular technical solution before, ask them to try connecting to the online meeting solution in advance (the evening before or 30 minutes before the online meeting starts). Does the video work? Is the sound OK? Can the person access the files they need? One of the biggest time thieves is solving technical problems during the meeting!
3. Be online 15 minutes before the start and get everything ready
Open the video conference channels in good time. Test your microphone and speakers. Check that all the other aids you plan to use work (log in to supporting environments if needed, etc.).
Online meeting agreements
Leading online meetings is a challenge. Many agreements that are self-evident in a physical meeting room suddenly no longer apply and have to be agreed again.
1. Be visible to each other and look into the camera
Video meetings require extra effort from our brain to listen to other people’s thoughts and feelings and read their body language. Ask all participants to always switch on their video – the online meeting immediately becomes livelier when you see the people you are talking to and their reactions. Ask all participants to set up their camera so that they are clearly visible to others. It is very uncomfortable to talk to people of whom only half a head is left.
Children, spouses and pets on screen are not taboo. Agree that participants don’t need to feel uncomfortable if a family member briefly appears in front of their camera to ask something or take something from the room.
2. A participant who wants to speak signals it visually
Agree that if someone wants to speak, they raise their hand or let the meeting host know, e.g. in the chat window. Some video conference solutions also offer a virtual hand-raising option (e.g. Zoom).
3. No contribution may exceed 2 minutes
Yes, many people find this hard at first. But such a limit forces people to express their thought more briefly and clearly. Less is more!
As the meeting leader, let everyone know that if needed you may mute all microphones to get the online meeting back on track. Ask participants not to take it personally 
4. If you are not speaking, mute your microphone
An online meeting can become noisy if background noise from participants’ homes and offices reaches everyone. Ask participants to mute their microphone if there is background noise where they are and they are not currently speaking.
Leading an online meeting
Remember that an online meeting can’t run at the same fast pace as meetings where everyone is gathered in the same physical room. Allow more time for online meetings and consciously slow the pace of the meeting down a little.
1. Warm-up
We all arrive at an online meeting from another meeting or from things at home, and switching over takes time. To make switching over and focusing on the online meeting quicker, take a little time for it at the start of every meeting.
How can you help participants focus quickly on the online meeting at hand?
- Give everyone the chance to share something about themselves (1–2 sentences). People “arrive” at the online meeting faster when they feel they get everyone else’s attention for a moment. Plus the chance to say what is on the surface of their thoughts and feelings at the moment. You can simply ask everyone: “Share in 1–2 sentences what has made you happy today”, “Share in 1–2 sentences how your weekend went” or “Share in 1–2 sentences how your day has gone so far”
For those used to warming up a meeting with cards, the following solutions help you continue this practice in online meetings too:
Sunergos picture cards online (free)
At My Best strengths cards – a paid solution for using At My Best cards online
2. A visual picture helps follow, understand and lead the discussion
Unfortunately, our brain processes verbal information relatively slowly. It is naive to assume that participants can follow and fully understand each other’s ideas and lines of thought throughout a long meeting.
Put simply, nearly 50% of our brain is involved in processing visual information.
The good news is that there are quite a few solutions that let you lead discussions with a shared whiteboard in the online meeting. They allow the team to work together on the same board during the meeting and visualise the discussion.
Tried and tested tools I can recommend:
- Mural.co and miro.com (also known as Real Time Board) – both solutions have very similar logic and features. I can also recommend stormboard.com
- Zoom.us screen sharing and several participants working together on the same screen. Just share your screen and give one of the participants control (the “Give Mouse/Keyboard Control to:” function)
- If you need to quickly gather the thoughts and feedback of online meeting participants, the quickest way is to ask them to give their feedback in mentimeter.com. There you can quickly prepare your questions for participants and, in a larger online meeting, collect their feedback. Want to try it? Go to menti.com and enter the code 51 00 31.
3. Take a 10–15 minute break every 45 minutes
Yes, video meetings require extra effort from our brain. So take a 10-minute break every 45 minutes so that people can move. The energy of the meeting always rises after a break.
4. In a large meeting, work in smaller groups
If the meeting you lead has more than 6 people, it is worth considering having some discussions in smaller groups. This gives everyone the chance to take part actively, and smaller groups usually produce new ideas that might not surface in a large group.
Unfortunately, not all video conference solutions allow you to split participants into smaller groups and then bring everyone back into one online meeting.
One solution that does is Zoom (zoom.us)
5. A clear summary of the meeting, both spoken and written
An online meeting creates many additional situations where participants may not understand agreements and decisions in the same way.
At the end of the online meeting, summarise clearly and concretely which agreements and decisions you made in the meeting. The agreements and decisions should be visible to all participants (e.g. on a shared screen).
6. Give each other quick feedback on the effectiveness of the meeting at the end of the online meeting
Using new tools and techniques requires us all to learn and adapt quickly. The best way to learn quickly is to take 5–10 minutes at the end of every meeting for each participant to give their feedback to the others. The questions are simple:
– “What do you think went well in today’s meeting and should we repeat next time?”
– “What should we change or start doing next time so that the online meeting goes better and creates value for you?”
Each participant briefly shares their opinion. No discussion or debate.
This part is also called the “water cooler” part of the online meeting. As the online meeting leader, take the feedback with you and decide what to continue and what to change next time.
After the online meeting
Make sure that the parties can talk to each other about any tensions left in the air during the online meeting.
It is very convenient to overlook tensions that arise in online meetings. The meeting ends, everyone closes their webcams, and it feels as if the tension has disappeared.
If you feel that a participant left the meeting very dissatisfied, give them a quick phone call, listen to them and try to understand.
With large numbers of online meetings, there is a very high risk that we ignore mounting tensions and don’t take time to talk about them one to one.
It is also good practice to keep the online meeting room open for 15 minutes after the meeting ends, so that participants can share further thoughts if they want to.
If you want to experience it yourself or share your tips with others, you are welcome to our workshop:
The aim of the workshop:
- We show each other concrete tips for making online meetings more enjoyable and effective
- Ask questions and get suggestions from other participants on how to solve your challenges with online meetings
What does it give me? As a result of the workshop, you add new options and tips to your “toolbox” for making online meetings livelier.
When: 8 May 2020, 14:00–16:00
Where: Zoom workshop
How much does it cost? 2 hours of each participant’s time
Why are we doing this? Because we believe there are many good and smart people around us with whom we are happy to share our experiences and learn from theirs!
