What We Do

You’ll get fast decisions, responsible technicians and quality outcomes.

5 Effective Tips to make your Remote Meetings More Successful

Remote meetings are becoming more popular in workplaces as employees are able to work from home or from a different location. Running these meetings effectively can lead to higher productivity and better communication. But unlike face-to-face meetings, remote ones require a few more nuanced adjustments. For instance, when meeting in person, people can take the time to review the agenda and prepare for what they will be presenting that day. But in remote settings, this isn’t always possible. So, we have put together some effective tips to help you run your remote meetings.

1. Have the right communication tools

To guarantee your remote meetings can get off to a good start before they even begin, you need the right communication tools, and this means software. It’s essential to choose software that allows you to conduct the meeting in a similar way to a traditional face-to-face meeting, so your software should allow you to easily share the meeting agenda and take minutes. It may also be necessary to enable video conferencing. Video conferencing on programs like Microsoft Teams allows your team to feel more engaged with each other as you are able to reintroduce a visual aspect which can’t be achieved through telephone conferencing, meaning that your meeting can run more smoothly as participants can utilise visual cues from the rest of the team to progress through the agenda.

2. Ensure your technology works prior to the meeting

There is nothing worse than starting a meeting only to have it delayed because your technology is not functioning correctly. In fact, problems with your technology could lead to your participants becoming irritated as their precious time is wasted while you fumble to get the technology up and running. Therefore, it is a good idea to schedule a few minutes before the meeting to set up your technology and ensure that it is functioning correctly.

3. Preparation is key

While preparation should be an essential part of all meetings, it is highly likely that you will have to spend more time preparing for a virtual meeting. This is largely because there is a higher likelihood of challenges occurring which could impact the success of your meeting. What should you do if your technology works fine, but one of your key speakers is experiencing technical difficulties? How will you coordinate a meeting over multiple time zones and manage the meeting effectively, so it doesn’t run over time and into the middle of the night for your participants? These are all things which can be planned for ahead of time to ensure the success of your remote meeting.

Remote-working

4. Involve everyone

In traditional face-to-face meetings, participants are often asked to contribute within the group setting, and this is done so with relative ease. But in a virtual setting, the social dynamics change, and participants can be more reluctant to openly contribute in the same way. So, it is important that the facilitator does their best to involve all attendees to contribute to the meeting when and where necessary. Many virtual meeting platforms even encourage this with the added “raise your hand” feature, so that participants can politely interject if someone is speaking.

5. Ask for feedback

It’s not often that we get things right the first time but asking for feedback can ensure that things are regularly improving. By asking the meeting participants for feedback on various points of the remote meeting, you are able to gain insight on how your remote meeting practices can be improved in the future. Such feedback could give you the information and ideas you need to further streamline your remote meetings, make them more inclusive, and make them more successful overall.

Challenging but not impossible

Remote meetings are the new norm, but they can come with challenges. However, with the right planning and technology, you can guarantee that your remote meetings are always a success. If you’d like to know more about how technology can help your business operations regardless of where your workforce or clients may be located, contact the team at Linktech Australia and talk with an expert.