If you’re one of the many people working from home in 2020, you have no doubt become intimately familiar with possibly the biggest trend in business this year - the virtual meeting. While you may have been on video conference calls in the past, 2020 has brought the activity to an entirely new level. Now it is standard practice not only for calls with clients but also for calls with people who were once just a few steps away from your office. All these virtual meetings have made many of the various video meeting platforms (Zoom, Slack, GoToMeeting, etc.) literal household brand names. 

As the use of virtual meetings has exploded, it’s not surprising that many users have identified more than a few shortfalls in the process. From quirks and glitches in the technology to user behavior and confusion around how in-person meetings vary from virtual ones, people have quickly found the limits of what virtual meetings can deliver.

However, many virtual meeting pros offer a few tips and suggestions to make your next virtual meeting run as smoothly as possible.

Cameras 

The use of the video camera might be the most polarizing aspect of virtual meetings. Many people use them religiously, while others may enjoy working in their pajamas and don’t really want that to show up on camera. There really is no one-size-fits-all approach to using cameras, other than to set expectations with your meeting attendees in advance if you expect everyone to turn on their camera. Springing a required video call on someone who hasn’t changed out of their workout clothes or has simply settled in comfortably to the relaxed work-from-home dress code and personal hygiene requirements is not a recipe for a productive and comfortable meeting.  If you want to have a cameras-on meeting, then give all your attendees the heads up well in advance (as in at least 24 hours), so they can be prepped. 

One other quick note on cameras. As a user, it’s likely smart to simply assume the camera is always on. Even if you’re not in a meeting, remember that little camera on your laptop is looking at you all the time. The remedy for this is to get a little webcam cover, so you have to actively remove it when you want to use the video camera. We’ve all seen the embarrassing video meeting blooper videos online and no one wants to be the subject of the next one.

Log in early

As the meeting host, the last thing you want to experience is a technical issue logging in with one minute before your meeting is set to start.  Most of us have had this experience at least once in 2020, where we launch a meeting we organized and suddenly learn our meeting app needs to be updated or some other system glitch requires a computer or app restart. These are a lot less stressful when you discover them 5 or even 10 minutes ahead of your meeting.  This gives you plenty of time to download the new update or refresh your screen before your meeting participants start to log in.

It’s also sometimes nice to log in early and be there when your attendees start to sign on. You may get to have some intro conversations with early arrivers, which can help things move along more smoothly once the meeting officially kicks off.

Minimize the Length

Remember those long 2-3 hours meetings in your office way back in 2019?  Remember how people enjoyed being cooped up in a conference room for hours on end?  Exactly.  No one enjoys those marathon meetings and it’s no different with virtual meetings.  While they may be in a more comfortable setting, in their home office setup, they still don’t want to sit through excessively long meetings. 

A good rule of thumb is to try to keep your virtual meetings no longer than an hour.  It’s not that you may not break that rule from time to time, but if you aim for that as a cutoff time, you may find your meetings move more quickly, stay on task, and that you get more done in less time.  

There are many more best practices for running effective and enjoyable virtual meetings, but these three tips are a good place to start.