Make your meetings more effective than ever with this quick guide to remote meetings!

Remote meetings are a vital part of a company’s day-to-day operations. There are a few caveats when it comes to leading successful remote meetings. They are challenging to handle, and most meetings require a lot of time and effort on the manager’s part. Here is a quick guide to remote meetings to make things easy for both the manager and attendees.

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Quick guide to remote meetings

Get Familiarized With the Tools

To ensure the smooth running of the meeting, you must familiarize yourself with the remote meetings technology. There is a plethora of video conference apps and software you can take advantage of, such as Zoom, Webex, Microsoft teams, Skype, and so on.

These video conferencing apps offer video and audio calls domestically and internationally without any hiccups. Video conference software has the power to make or break the meeting. A poor connection can derail the flow of the meeting, wasting everybody’s time. There are some important video conferencing tools you should have:

• Video conferencing hardware
• Video conferencing software
• Computer or Laptop
• Monitor or display

Have your screen and file sharing set-up up and running, so you don’t fiddle with it during the meeting, breaking the flow.

Send Out Invites

Create an agenda and send out invites a week or so before the meeting date. Use scheduling apps or tools to help you. Outline the agenda topics clearly to make your meeting more efficient. They clarify how much time each person will take to discuss a topic and ensure your meeting is to the point.

Sharing agendas with your employees with the invites will ensure they get enough time to prepare. Don’t forget to send all the attendees friendly reminders a couple of days before the meeting.

Allow Your Team Members to Catch Up

Remote meetings aren’t the same as face-to-face meetings. Considering the current circumstances working from home isn’t a walk in the park either. Everybody is forced to work in isolation, and it can be tough to maintain the schedule while keeping the motivation levels up. 

Allow your employees to catch up with each other. Allocate five minutes of the meeting for small talk. You will be surprised by your employees’ productivity and enthusiasm throughout the meeting, followed by a friendly chat. Asking about your employees’ well-being during this challenging time is an excellent way to start a remote meeting.

Allow Suggestions

Every one of us has differing opinions and perspectives about certain things. Not all employees work in the same way. Working from home may have given your employees the liberty to complete projects their way. Therefore, allow them to share their perspectives. It may be an excellent opportunity for you to get some new ideas.

Try to avoid pushing business vision onto your employees all the time. If you want them to grow, give them some leverage. Your employees are not robots. Consistently doing the same task makes a person feel burnt out. Discussing different ideas and visions will make your employees understand their input’s value and help your business grow.

Feedback

As remote meetings become the norm, you need to figure out what works for your employees and what doesn’t. Otherwise, they will lose interest. Attending a meeting out of obligation is a waste of everyone’s time and doesn’t add any value. Some people may not be satisfied with the meetings’ format because the outcome isn’t effective.

Some people may not feel like they are an integral part of the organization because they don’t feel heard. After the meeting, ask for thorough feedback. Suppose there aren’t sufficient minutes left in the meeting to ask each employee individually, then set up a poll. To make sure everyone participates, make the poll anonymous. There might be some critical feedback, but don’t take it personally. In the next meeting, address those issues with the employees.

Record the Meeting

Unlike face-to-face meetings, you can’t manually write everything down. Record your meetings, so it is easier to go back to the session if you have missed something. Perhaps one of your employees had a brilliant idea during the brainstorming session that resonated with you. 

Recording meetings is also a great way of allowing your employees to stay up to date. If some people couldn’t attend the meeting for some reason, they can always access the recordings. Always remember to ask for consent from your employees before recording the meeting. If they are not comfortable with video recording, you can always opt for an audio one.

Final thoughts – Quick guide to remote meetings

Remote meetings can be much more effective when everyone is prepared for the discussions and equipped with the right tools. Sometimes, just having a good video conferencing app won’t be enough. That’s where ManyCam comes in. The live video tools available within ManyCam allow you and your employees to use picture-in-picture windows, add multiple video sources, replace real backgrounds with virtual ones, and much more. 

Plus, the new overlay feature will make your business presentations much more effective. Have a look at one of its functionalities: 

To make use of this quick guide to remote meetings, download ManyCam today!