Many more of us are now working from a remote location instead of a traditional office setting since the pandemic hit last year, now making video meetings an essential tool for effective face-to-face communication with staff or clients. With multiple participants attending these video meetings, it can sometimes be challenging to ensure you cover all of the intended information. Communicating clearly and effectively in these meetings is VITAL to your team and client’s schedules. If you fail to cover all of the essential aspects during your meeting, details can be missed and projects can come screeching to a halt.
I have been working remotely for nearly eight years and have quite a bit of experience with video meetings, both what works and what doesn’t. In order to have an efficient and productive video meeting, you must have some basic meeting guidelines in place.
In this post, I will share 10 steps you can take before, during, and after a video meeting to ensure it is flawlessly successful and productive.
Prior to the Meeting
The First Step- Be Mentally Prepared
Being prepared for an upcoming meeting will save time, allow you to better focus, and assure your video meeting goes off without a hitch. This first step not only means getting that bathroom break or coffee refill before the meeting starts, but also preparing yourself mentally for the meeting. Take a few minutes to get ready for the meeting by setting yourself up in a quiet location and minimize any distractions. Review the meeting’s agenda and make any notes of questions you may have. This will help clear your mind of other tasks and help you to be more focused and present during the meeting.
Step 2- Familiarize Yourself with your Video Meeting Platform
You would be surprised at how many video meetings I have attended in which the meeting moderator had no idea how to use the meeting platform. This projects an image of being unprepared and unprofessional. To avoid this, I recommend first trying out your desired video meeting platform prior to the meeting. Log in and play around with backgrounds, screen-sharing, notes, and other features, you can even invite your mom or a friend to join you to make it more fun. Knowing how to use your video platform to the best of its ability helps you get the most out of your video meetings.
Step 3- Create a Metting Agenda
Another part of preparing for your meeting is creating a meeting agenda. This step helps the meeting go smoothly, ensures all of the desired topics are covered, and makes it easier to redirect your audience back to the topic if the conversation starts to stray. Having an agenda is a fantastic tool to make sure you get all of your information covered in a timely manner. I recommend sending out your video meeting agenda with the meeting invite so your attendees can browse it before the meeting and make notes if desired.
Step 4- Assign Meeting Roles
My final recommendation for preparing your video meeting is to assign a couple of meeting roles. When hosting an online meeting, I like to have at least two specific roles pre-assigned: a moderator role (can the person hosting/requesting the call) and a secretarial role.
The moderator will produce the agenda to send out to the attendees with the meeting invite, as well as opening the meeting, explaining meeting procedures and etiquette, introducing each agenda item, redirecting the conversation back to the topic if needed, and engaging attendees one by one for questions prior to ending the meeting. Other possible responsibilities that can be assigned to the moderator are explaining where to find meeting notes, going over follow-up procedures, and closing the video meeting.
The secretarial job during the video meeting is another essential role. The person who is assigned this role will work with the video meeting moderator by taking notes during the meeting to be posted or emailed after the call. If you use the chat feature during your meeting, the secretary can also monitor the video meeting chat to assist the moderator in making sure all questions from the attendees get answered without all of the interruptions. Some video meeting platforms allow you to take notes in the application, but if you are using a platform that does not offer this feature, you can find free meeting note templates in the digital product boutique.
During the Meeting
“Be on time. If you can’t, get there early.”
-Robin Sharma
Step 5- Be Punctual
A huge part of having a productive meeting is starting on time. Tardiness can be seen as disrespectful and conveys the message that you don’t value other peoples’ time. Not only that, it’s unprofessional and shows clients you are unreliable… How is a client supposed to trust you with their project if you have trouble managing your time?
It is also equally important to be punctual when ending a meeting. Your clients and employees have other scheduled tasks and meetings that need to be accomplished throughout their day, as do you. Ending a meeting late can throw off the schedule for the rest of the day, leaving things undone. If a meeting is nearing its scheduled end time and you have not covered your agenda, consider scheduling another meeting instead of ending late.
Step 6- Explain Meeting Procedures
When you begin your video meeting, start with introductions of the meeting attendees, if needed, and then take a few minutes to outline the procedures and expectations of the meeting. Common online meeting procedures include: asking participants to mute their microphones while the moderator is conducting the meeting, letting attendees know what to do if they have questions, etc. These few minutes of explanation will reduce interruptions and help the meeting continue to run smoothly.
Step 7- Stick to the Agenda
To ensure all information is covered during your online meeting, create an agenda. This can be a simple as compiling a list of topics you want to go over during the meeting. Having an agenda is a useful tool for staying on topic and helping cover all of the intended information in a timely manner. If the conversation strays off topic, the agenda will help to guide you back.
Step 8- Recap the Meeting
Towards the end of the meeting, after all of the topics in your agenda have been covered, I recommend doing a quick recap for your attendees The recap highlights all of the important information from the meeting and gives you the opportunity to remind your team of any upcoming project deadlines. This is also a great opportunity to schedule a follow-up call if one is needed.
Step 9- Q & A
After the meeting recap, you should save a few minutes for a question and answer session. When meeting participants have the opportunity to ask questions, details can be clarified and deadlines can be reinforced. Having the Question and Answer period during your meeting also engages each team member, allowing the attendees to feel more involved in the meeting and give each the chance to bring up any other ideas or issues they may be having.
After the Meeting
The Final Step- Follow Up
Now that you have finished your online meeting, you will need to follow up with your team. Set a time a couple of days (or weeks) after your meeting to check in on the progress of the project to be sure things are moving along as expected and troubleshoot any issues that may have come up.
So there you have it!
Those were my top 10 steps to a successful and productive video meeting; although most of these guidelines will apply to any meeting or appointment you may have. Some of these steps may seem like common sense, but I assure you, I have seen major meeting malfunctions due to inexperience with the meeting platform or side conversations taking over…sometimes rules are needed! If you follow these 10, you are sure to have a flawlessly successful AND productive video meeting!
