As we head into the weekend, some of you might be thinking Yay, I made it to Friday, but how am I ever going to face down another week of 100% virtual meetings next week?

Many of you are spending 8+ hours per day on calls right now. For some of you, this is a brave new world. For others, this way of working is familiar. Either way, I wanted to share a useful set of tips for creating virtual meetings that matter more. Keep reading to learn how your meetings next week can have more engagment, more connection, and more energy. 

What’s different about meetings now?

As a prelude, let me share the top 4 reasons virtual meetings tend to be less effective than face-to-face:

1.  Less real-time feedback: Research shows that 55% of the information that we communicate is non-verbal and shared through body language.  

2.  Many people keep their sound muted and/or video off: Without video on, that 55% of information is completely lost in the conversation. Going on mute seems to nudge people to dis-engage and move into multitasking, creating further distance, which decreases connection.  

3.  Presentations not conversations: With video turned off and some people muted, presenters start to feel less connected to the group they are presenting to, which in turn, decreases their own engagement and aliveness. As the presenters become more disconnected, the rest of the group does too, and the whole things can start to feel stiff and didactic. 

4.  Multitasking becomes the norm: As “in-the-moment” connection decreases, the meeting becomes less interesting and multitasking becomes a more compelling way to spend the time.

(-excerpted from remote meetings guide by Evolution Consulting.)

Best practices for better remote meetings

I’m sharing a set of best practices for creating more connected, productive, and energizing meetings (published by Evolution Consulting). I think it’s really quite good and I hope you will, too. May you enjoy and keep well.

Note: this guide was written with the Zoom video conferencing platform in mind but can readily be applied to other platforms.