Virtual meetings, when done the right way, can be a fascinating and enjoyable world that boosts morale among the entire team, wherever they are in the world.
Yet at the same time, you’ll find endless battles that ruin the experience. Not every participant will join your conference call or virtual meeting, or there are technical issues that make everyone angry and late.
Moreover, it is necessary to know about some common virtual meeting mistakes and what you can do to avoid them. This article shares some of them. Here are some common mistakes:
1. Nobody Knows What To Do
When you find yourself hosting virtual meetings on the web, it’s important to collect as much information as possible beforehand. In doing so, you need to start with your schedule and send it to the participants well in advance.
This way, you can be sure that the plan is clear for everyone. And if some issues are not clear for a participant, this person can contact you beforehand and ask about them. Do not worry about asking questions in advance – it’s better to ask them before than during the meeting.
2. Nobody Takes Minutes During The Meeting
It’s not enough to have a plan. You have to prepare in advance for recording the results of your virtual meeting.
Someone must take notes of what is going on during the virtual meeting and then share them with all participants as soon as possible after the conference call or hosting a virtual meeting online.
These notes are extremely important and should be shared with everyone present at the meeting. This is how you can avoid situations when someone writes down something differently than another person.
3. Lack of Knowledge of Online Etiquette
Sometimes you must know how to behave during a virtual meeting. For example, you don’t want to share private information during a meeting or discuss sensitive and confidential topics without reason.
It’s important for all participants to know what they can and cannot do during a virtual meeting. Scheduling team meetings in advance can also ensure a higher attendance rate.
Therefore, it is a good idea to discuss the rules of online etiquette with your colleagues. It does not take much time – just 30 minutes and everyone will be sure how to behave at a virtual meeting.
4. Everybody Tries To Speak At Once
Online meetings for business can get exciting, so it’s tempting for everyone to talk over each other. But there’s not much worse than trying to work out what everyone’s saying because they’ve left their mics on.
Make sure everyone’s mics are off and keep them engaged by involving everyone in the conversation, one person at a time.
Consider hiring a remote coach who can observe the chaos and advise on best practices if your business is really struggling to have successful meetings.
5. The Meeting Time is Too Short
The online virtual meeting should last as long as possible. It’s unnecessary to hold the meeting for 10 or 15 minutes, but it should last at least 30 minutes. You want to avoid wasting time when you have a scheduled discussion.
However, if all participants face this problem, you should extend the meeting. This way, you will not be wasting time while discussing some unimportant matter that has already been discussed two or three times previously.
6. Excessive Talking Leads to Boredom
If one person speaks too much, everyone will be bored. Therefore, it’s a good idea to set a time limit for every speaker or ask one person to repeat what another speaker has already said. This way, visitors won’t feel bored, and you will reach the necessary result sooner than later.
You can also incorporate new virtual meeting platforms that gamify the experience to keep your clients or workers interested. Mesh.online is a great example of this, where you can have your own virtual office!
7. Test Your Connection Beforehand To Avoid Issues
So, you’re ready to have a virtual meeting. You have thought about what issues you will focus on in the meeting and how you want to hold it without any problems. So, now you should test your virtual meeting tech and the connection beforehand.
You need to test the connection for stability before proceeding with your virtual meeting. Otherwise, there is a risk that your participants will experience bad sound or video quality or even get an error message while they are trying to connect for the first time.
Testing the Connection
There are some golden rules to testing the connection pre-meeting. To test the connection, you need to:
1. Select a quiet place with good internet access. Make sure that there are no technical problems with your Wi-Fi network or other similar issues. Also, make sure that no one else is using the internet now and you’re the only one trying to connect for a virtual meeting.
2. Ensure that you work in a quiet space without any distractions (music, background noise, or anything else). That way, your focus will be on connecting.
3. Test your connection at least 5 minutes before you plan to host a meeting. It’s better to do it several times in different sessions with the same set of participants, so you will know how it will work for your meeting.
To conduct a practical test, you should ensure that all participants have the same charging devices or PCs as if they are already connected at home or in their office. Also, try putting in the same browser settings and the same passwords as for your usual meetings.
One More Thing
By adhering to all this advice, the chances are you’ll engage in a successful, productive, and fruitful meeting.
But please, whatever you do, don’t misinterpret “fruitful” and become one of those people who accidentally leave their camera on when they shouldn’t.
You never know who’s watching!
Keep reading for more engaging advice on how to make the most of remote working!
