Here at UN Cloud IT, we want to help you and your business make the best of any situation, and these days, this includes a lot of online meetings. Even for those who are used to them, online meetings pose some unique challenges, and our team wants to help you rise to the occasion. In this article, we’ll provide some key tips on how to get the best results from your next online meeting.
- Do a Systems Check. One of the most frustrating parts of online meetings is having to deal with technical difficulties–even if your computer is fine, you’ll still have to wait on your coworker to sort out the problem, or catch them up on what they missed later. To avoid this situation, we recommend rebooting your computer at least 20 minutes ahead of the meeting, and check that your camera, microphone, and internet connection are all working properly.
- Make a Clear Agenda. Even in-person meetings give way to confusion and wasted time when there is no clear goal or purpose, and online meetings only exacerbate this problem. To avoid this, make sure to establish a clear agenda for the meeting ahead of time, and make sure to communicate that agenda to everyone–we recommend sending it to your team members at least 24 hours ahead of time, and having each recipient acknowledge that they’ve read it.
- Set Time Limits. A third tip for getting the most from your online meetings is to set clear time limits for each of the points on your agenda. This will keep your team focused on the task at hand and help prevent tangents, and it will save everyone involved a lot of frustration. If you find that you can’t wrap up the topic in the time allotted, make sure to set a new time limit to continue the discussion or make plans to hash it out further in the future.