As Covid-19 continues to shake up our daily lives, remote work has become the new norm. Even with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, most companies have rolled out remote work rules and policies for their employees.
With workers scattered all over, companies are conducting meetings through video conferencing tools and virtual meeting rooms. This includes interviews and client meetings.
Despite having more than 5.5 billion minutes used in virtual meetings, 30% of the employee's time spent in meetings is considered unproductive. It's, therefore, crucial to have virtual meeting etiquette in place to lead an effective session.
Why etiquette is so important for your business' virtual meeting
As remote work becomes the new normal, boundaries between our personal and professional lives are starting to get mixed up. During a virtual meeting, several awkward situations are bound to happen.
Your children might burst into the meeting room, and you might have to go watch them for a moment. You can also receive a phone call in the middle of a meeting. These might seem like minor problems, but they become quite irritating for your meeting participants and compromise professionalism.
The meeting becomes unproductive, and the meeting leader ends up wasting valuable time trying to get their meeting back on track while their meeting participants are distracted by the noises outside.
Virtual meeting etiquette ensures that such distractions don't happen as everyone knows what's expected during a virtual meeting.
Common virtual meeting etiquette
For a virtual meeting to be effective, it's vital to create ground rules from the very beginning of the meeting. This ensures that everyone knows what is expected out of them. Common virtual meeting etiquette includes:
1. Establishing meeting time-frame
When setting up a meeting, it's essential to be clear with everyone about the meeting duration. This is particularly crucial for virtual meetings where people from different time zones participate.
Requesting participants to set aside an hour or two hours abruptly adds another burden on them as they'll have to block their schedules. To avoid this issue, give at least 15 minutes' heads-ups before going live.
2. Asking for an agenda
Virtual meeting rooms are designed to host several meeting participants. People, therefore, don't have the liberty of just interrupting or passing comments on what they want to say as everyone will hear them.
That's why a meeting leader must set a plan before the meeting starts. The meeting agenda allows meeting participants to prepare and note key points they want to discuss during the meeting. It also helps keep them focused on the meeting topics instead of interrupting the speaker throughout the meeting.
3. Preparing ahead
Preparing ahead helps you avoid the last-minute rush. It also ensures that meeting participants are not wasting their time looking for meeting resources like meeting transcripts and meeting minutes.
Before the meeting begins, set a good background and check your video conferencing tool's audio and visual settings. Also, ensure that you have downloaded the meeting resources sent to you.
If you are the host, send the meeting link earlier, together with the agenda list, and assign roles to the meeting participants. This will give meeting participants adequate time to prepare for the meeting.
Conclusion
Virtual meetings are becoming increasingly common as more people rely on online conferences such as BlueJeans meeting tools to communicate, collaborate and network with individuals from around the globe.
This is why meeting etiquette for virtual meetings is becoming increasingly crucial. Meeting leaders are responsible for ensuring that their meeting participants are ready to go into the meeting room and focus on what needs to be discussed.
With these ground rules in mind, you will find your virtual meeting experience more engaging and enjoyable. BlueJeans is a virtual meeting app designed for businesses. It's secure, easy to use, and includes all the features you'd expect from physical meetings. Download a free trial of BlueJeans today to get started.
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