If anything can make meetings better, it’s not having to travel across borders to attend one. Meetings are essential for every organization’s success and growth. Most decision-makers spend around 65% of their time on virtual meeting platforms with different heads to check on work progress. But we all know that business meetings can consume a lot of time.

Social alienation and work from home have led to an increased usage of virtual meetings platforms. While these platforms make it easier to plan calls, they also result in higher attendance and deep involvement. To help conduct productive online meetings, here are a few tips.

1. Make the meetings fun:

Before planning a virtual meeting plans ways to keep the participants engaged by planning an introduction session, brainteasers, or a guessing game. The organizers or the host of the meeting can go around the virtual meeting and ask each person to introduce themselves. The host can also start with a team-building activity such as fun interactive quizzes that could help in breaking the ice. Another icebreaker is to ask a participant to describe an object in their room and have other participants guess the object.

2. A well-defined agenda:

A meeting without a motive can lead to puzzlement and waste of time. Do not conduct a meeting on a virtual team meeting platform if the agenda is not clear. To make things easier one can prepare a list of issues to be discussed. If the role of each role is specified it makes the functioning of the meeting smoother, this is usually practiced on virtual town hall platforms. The agenda should be shared at least 24 hours before the commencement of the meeting to ensure smooth flow.

3. Appoint a moderator:

Virtual AGM platforms often conduct meetings where a moderator is appointed. This allows the meeting and the discussions to stay on track and avoid deviations. The moderator is in charge of the meeting and no participants can speak without their permission. This is particularly important for virtual corporate meeting platforms as it ensures a polished flow of the meeting.

4. Prepare the system:

Meetings conducted on virtual corporate meeting platforms often encourage their participants to restart their devices 20 minutes prior to the meeting to ensure the camera and microphones are working and the software supports the platform. For one-on-one meetings or even a larger group of participants, it is advised to use Dreamcast as your platform because it allows one to conduct the meeting more professionally.

5. Setting time limits:

Meetings on virtual town hall platforms are often time capped, this significantly boosts productivity and helps extract more value in a lesser amount of time. For example, one can set a duration of 30 minutes and assign 10 minutes for each agenda. This way, the participants will not lose focus and the meeting will be on track.

6. Minimize distractions:

Meetings conducted on virtual team meeting platforms try to reduce distractions. To reduce or completely avoid distractions it is recommended for all participants to attend the meetings in a private, well-lit area. For better audio quality usage of headphones or collar microphones should be used as compared to the device’s speakers and mic. This guarantees clear communication.

7. Enforce a mandatory video-on policy:

Communication is better when non-verbal clues play a part. What one says is as important as how one says it. Most Virtual AGM platforms believe that video conferencing helps them to connect better with peers. This also increases efficiency among the team and allows the organization to reach the main objectives. The video-on policy also ensures that participants avoid multitasking when they are on a video conference.

8. Urge participants to contribute:

Two-way communication increases the effectiveness and allows the organization to make impactful decisions one can ask the participants their opinions on the issues being discussed, another way of getting the participants to interact is to ask for updates or if they would like to add to an ongoing discussion. One can also share videos and documents to make communication more fluent between the two parties. Yet another way is to pass on questionnaires, surveys, and polls to the participants. One can also share a funny story over the video conference to lighten the mood. A study by Harvard suggests that participants who shared funny stories about themselves are 26% more productive during brainstorming sessions.

9. Conclude with specifications:

Try not to end the meetings vaguely. It is the responsibility of the moderator to assign action items and receive an acknowledgment from all the participants of the meeting. The clue is to create a list of action items and assign them to individuals or groups.

10. Share meeting notes:

Once the virtual meeting is concluded, it is always best to share a summary of the meeting. This document can contain the list of action items along with the group or individual allotted to complete them. One can also ask participants to confirm the receipt of the summary and their understanding of it.

11. Follow-up after the meeting:

The host of the meeting has to ensure the proper understanding of the agendas by the participants. One can achieve this by having one-on-one sessions with the participants or through a feedback survey. Hearing back from the participants can give one a proper understanding of the agenda of the meeting.

Research shows that 43% of the participants say that video conferencing has helped companies to be more productive although all employees are in different locations. This is a good example of the fact that online meetings are more effective as compared to offline mode. The online mode has become a go-to since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and has become a valuable time saver and become the standard way in people’s daily work life. To make online meetings more productive and successful you should reach out to Dreamcast. They enjoy a great reputation in the market for their customized solutions and our flexibility. You can also schedule a demo with the company.