Communicating Amid Coronavirus: Six Tips for Better Virtual Meetings
By Christina McKenna
With concerns about the spread of Coronavirus prompting temporary travel restrictions at organizations across the globe, more and more professionals are turning to virtual meetings to connect their teams and stay productive.
No doubt, virtual meetings offer many conveniences (like preventing the spread of sickness, for one). But they also present some problems, especially for the meeting host who has the difficult job of engaging participants and keeping order without the benefit of a good old-fashioned stare down.
Still, there are steps we can take to encourage productivity and collaboration, even across the phone lines. If you’re suddenly tasked with hosting a virtual meeting, here are six tips that may help:
Use the video option if you can. Though it can’t replace face-to-face engagement, the video option does empower attendees to communicate with more than just their voices. Gestures and facial expressions (especially smiling) can go a long way toward making the group feel connected and invested in the outcome. So turn on the video if possible.
As always, get clear on your goal. Ahead of time, challenge yourself to laser in on the real purpose of the meeting, whether it’s to reach a decision, generate ideas or just keep the team in touch. Keep the goal front and center (maybe literally) during the meeting and you’ll be amazed how much it keeps things on track.
Command the call from the start. In virtual meetings especially, audiences need to know someone’s in charge. Send a signal that you’re in control, by speaking loudly and clearly. Also, remember that it’s your job to kick things off with a strong open, to remind everyone of the purpose of the call, to lay ground rules (like asking attendees to avoid multi-tasking) and to keep things moving. So stay in command throughout.
Stand up! Yes, even when the audience can’t see you, stand. When we sit, we tend to physically and mentally recede into a passive role and deprive our virtual meeting of needed energy. If you’re using video, standing will likely require some reconfiguring of the room and the camera, but it’s well worth the effort.
Keep it short. Staying engaged in a virtual meeting is just harder. Do yourself, your audience and your topic a favor and keep your virtual meeting as efficient and short as possible.
Lastly, plan for and deliver an uplifting close. Save a few moments at the end to wrap things up with purpose, quickly reminding everyone of the point of the meeting, the progress made, and, that their investment of time was worthwhile. This important step will send everyone back to work with a good feeling about what just transpired and make it more likely they bring their A-game to your next virtual meeting.
Finally, if you’re not the host, but rather just attending a virtual meeting, be sure to do your part as well. Be on your best behavior by staying engaged, contributing when appropriate, and cutting back on the multi-tasking to give your colleagues your full attention.
After all, business is built on relationships. If our face-to-face interactions are going to be limited for a while, it’s more important than ever that we maximize other opportunities to make personal connections and get work done.
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