Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Virtual Meetings

In this modern world, virtual meetings are en vogue. In fact, these meetings served as the lifeline in the Covid-19 pandemic, with every following stringent social distancing protocol. Besides, leveraging technology to work remotely makes a lot of sense. In fact, court reporters Miami have been doing this in their line of work for a long time now. After all, they need to bring different people together and communicate with a lot of parties involved in a specific case. On top of that, many certified professionals have even gone to court reporting schools online.

Thus, this professional group shares how critical it is to make the most of your time together in virtual meetings. To propel any company forward, every person involved must share ideas and act as a team. When managers successfully conduct these online meetings, it can boost productivity and performance. Most of all, successful virtual meetings assure you can continue to collaborate effectively with one another. For best results, follow this timely advice curated by experienced court reporters Miami. Follow their tips to improve your virtual meetings. 

Offer Some Social Time

If you plan a meeting for team members who were used to being physically present with each other, you must provide them with a chance to warm up. Offering social time before the formal meeting allows them to foster that rapport. Hence, you must put this catch-up time on your meeting agenda. 

Experienced court reporters Miami suggest the one in charge of the meeting must draw that specific line. Set up guidelines for these “water cooler” chats for better results. As a result, everyone will be ready to get down to more serious business when needed. 

Choose Full Video Calls When Possible

Instead of ordinary voice calls, choose video meetings whenever possible. After all, seeing the faces of the people, you speak to feel more like a real meeting. Thus, this works better in terms of fostering team bonding. Besides, seeing familiar faces offer a more natural conversation setting. 

On top of that, seeing facial expressions and hand gestures offer non-verbal cues. Unlike an audio call where people tend to talk over each other, you can readily see if someone still has the floor. As a result, this prevents interruptions. Best of all, video calls offer more practicality, putting people in office work mode physically and mentally. Remember, video calls require people to groom and dress smartly (at least from the waist up or what’s visible in the camera). 

Select the Best Platform Suited to Team Objectives

According to court reporters Miami, one of the primary things to consider is finding the best platform for your virtual meetings. Without the right platform, the meeting may tank. Fortunately, there are many platforms available now, from free to paid. Check out their specifications to find one that matches your team’s objectives and daily needs. You can choose from the following examples:

• Timewise
• Slack
• Basecamp
• Skype
• WebEx
• Google Hangouts
• FB Messenger
• GoTo Meeting
• Lark

Remember, no matter what platform you choose, you have to make sure everyone sets things up properly. Every staff member needs proper training before the meetings. This includes learning how to screen share, upload the necessary documents, or update to-do lists.

Establish Clear Rules Before Commencing

Veteran court reporters Miami share that you must establish ground rules from the start. This assures that everyone will take the virtual meetings as seriously as the face-to-face versions. To ensure that happens, you must establish expectations right off the bat. 

For example, you must stipulate practical rules like staying off cell phones or computers with unrelated tasks. Perhaps, you could also enforce a headphone rule for better clarity or a mic-off policy until it is your turn to speak. These rules may also include other principles like requiring everyone a minute or two of speaking time. The one at the helm can decide what these rules are. 

Begin With a Clear Meeting Agenda

Every successful meeting starts with a clear agenda that you must stick with. Unfortunately, it can be easy to deviate and drift off-topic with a virtual meeting. Thus, you must begin with a clear structure by providing topics you intend to cover. 

Most of all, you must assign someone as the chair to keep the discussion focus. This person also has the responsibility of keeping the conversation on track with the right prompts and cues. For best results, keep the following tips in mind: 

• 45 minutes are optimal
• Include time in the end for meeting wrap-ups
• Keep the floor open for suggestions 

Give a Chance for Participants to Talk

For a truly productive virtual session, court reporters Miami suggests providing a chance for everyone to speak. This is already difficult enough to do in person, so being intentional with video calls can make a difference. You have to make sure everyone stays engaged and gets a chance to contribute. 

To assure great results, you need an experienced chair to have a good handle on things. This person can moderate the meeting to keep opinions and comments organized. Your platform can also come with options, like Zoom’s hand-raise option. This helps the facilitator figure out the order of responses. On top of that, quieter or more introverted team members who don’t volunteer opinions can be tapped. The chair can directly ask if they want to add anything to the discussion. 

Follow the Meeting Up With Written Minutes

Finally, a successful meeting will always have wrap-ups in writing. It will outline the points discussed in the session. Some people may have missed stuff, especially with tech glitches. When you email a brief recap of what’s been discussed along with the crucial steps needed, everyone will be on board. Therefore, you lessen confusion and misunderstandings. 

Following these practical guidelines will help you manage virtual meetings. As a result, you will not waste your time and effort attending meetings that do not yield results. To help you out, you can check out a helpful article on how court reporters successfully transcribe important meetings.