Successful Online Meeting Strategies!

 Online Meeting Woes?

Need more productive online meetings? Sure! Everyone knows online meeting woes. Here are some great online meeting tips and sources that may make you look forward to those meetings rather than dread them.

General Online Meeting Tips

Many offline meeting tips apply to online meetings as well, For example: 

• Provide a prepopulated agenda in advance and ask if the participants have any items they would like to add to the agenda -This goes a long way towards helping people be more prepared and more relaxed so they can focus.
• Delegate a set amount of time for each item on the agenda and delegate a timekeeper to help the meeting stay on track.
• Increase productivity by relaxing the participants at the start with words of gratitude, positive news, and a bit of humour. See - The Guardian: Happy Workers are more productive.
• Shorter meetings help people stay focused (and are less dreaded). Keep meetings to 30 minutes whenever possible. Inside Higher Education:  Leading More Productive Meetings
• Start meetings on time - no waiting for stragglers. Many platforms allow you to record the sessions, so stragglers, ad even you can review what was discussed later on.

Tech Tips for Online Meetings

While in-person meetings have their share of tech fiascos - projectors breaking down, intercom messages, and unexpected emergencies, online meetings have their own unique and more than slightly embarrassing challenges. If that can be avoided, or at least minimized with these tips:

1. Circulate this hilarious post to participants of time>>  Bored Panda:35 Calls Gone Hilariously Wrong It's a gentle way to help people think about a few do's and don'ts  like:

• Imagine you are at an office meeting and dress for success!
• Lock the door! 
• Chose a room that looks like an office.
• Mute your mic!
• Don't post any side comments - they may go viral!
• It's okay to have a temporary camera malfunction as a cover story to cover  up..

One on One Meeting Tips

The job website indeed offers some good tips for one on one meetings, such as: 

The most important element in a successful 1-1 is creating a space where people feel comfortable discussing the issues and concerns on their minds. These meetings are primarily for the employee and their participation is vital. 

Start your 1-1 with an open-ended question. This allows the most important and top of mind topics to surface.

 However, the suggested open-ended questions would definitely put me in a blue funk! 

Here are some questions you might try: How are you feeling? What is on your mind? Do you feel like you have clear priorities? Do you feel in-the-loop? Do you feel isolated from the rest of the team? What are you most excited about? What are you most worried about? How can I help you? Once you’ve fully heard their answers, (and set their mood in a tailspin for the rest of the day) be a facilitator of solutions. Uncover what they’re excited about, how you can mentor them to be successful, and unblock them to do their best work.

 What open-ended questions would I appreciate? 

I would suggest starting by stating words of gratitude, like: 

• I really appreciate the job you're doing.
• How is it you manage to juggle your family and still get things done?
• Do you have any tips you could share with others on our team for productivity?
• How do you envision our company succeeding with x?

Then, follow up on employees' suggestions, so they see that it's not just empty talk and they are valued members of the team. 

What tips would you offer for successful online meetings?

Have a great day!

Su