Preparing for a Video Call
So, you’ve invited your colleagues and manager to a remote meeting to present your progress on a project you’ve been working on for the last six months. One of the participants is calling you because she’s struggling to join the meeting but you’re having issues of your own: you can hear what everyone else is saying but no one can hear you! 😟😠
This type of problem can be stressful for you and tedious for those attending the meeting if it goes on for too long!
Who hasn’t been there?! What can I do to avoid this type of situation, though?
If you do decide to go ahead and organize a remote meeting, remember that it will be really different to an in-person meeting. The day of the meeting will go much more smoothly if you take a few preparatory steps ahead of time:
10 Days Before the Meeting
Set the meeting subject, the agenda, and the objective.
Send the invitation over email or via your company’s calendar app, with instructions on how to connect and the link for joining the meeting.
One Day Before the Meeting
Test your equipment with participants to check that it works: for a successful video call, participants need to know how to use the tool and must have high-quality sound and image. Send a download link and a tutorial, check your sound and try to use a headset. Check the internet connection with participants.
Five Minutes Before the Meeting
If you’ve just signed up for the video call, choose a simple username so that people know who you are: name and surname, for example. Choose a strong password. Allow the application to access your microphone and camera through the pop-up window.
Close any other apps that you don’t need running. This will reduce the pressure on your bandwidth and enhance security and confidentiality.
At the Start of the Meeting
Set out the rules for taking the floor, and invite colleagues to use the chat for any questions or comments. This will help identify the person contributing.
Go over the agenda, pointing out any planned breaks.
Check you have the agreement of all participants to record the meeting, if that’s what you want to do, and don’t force anyone to turn on their camera.
Pay attention to your body language and clothes: we can see you!
Follow Video Call Etiquette
What are the best practices for a video call?
Select a Good Location
Select an environment where you can concentrate: a quiet spot far from any distractions, with a setup that lets you take notes comfortably. Think about your background—we don’t want to see into your bathroom! Some programs allow you to select a background if what is actually behind you isn’t ideal. Here are some examples of virtual backgrounds you can use for Zoom.
Use Good-Quality Equipment
Sound: this should be high quality, and if your location is a bit noisy, use a noise reduction headset.
Image: should be clear. Make sure you’re not backlit. If you are, place a desk lamp behind your screen to help light your face.
Ideally, you should test your equipment beforehand. Zoom, for example, has a tutorial on how to test your audio equipment.
Contribute Conscientiously and Constructively
Mute yourself when you’re not speaking. This will also help with bandwidth for the person who is talking.
Use the private and public chat functions wisely. Use the “raise hand” function if you want to speak.
Don’t speak at the same time as someone else, and stop talking even if it was you that had the floor initially. Remind participants of the rules if needs be.
Active listening works really well to remind your colleagues and clients that you are still keeping up with the conversation. Nodding, smiling, and visibly taking notes helps people see clearly that you are listening.
Be Aware of How You Appear to Others
Start your video on time.
Dress appropriately for the meeting you have. My rule is that I want people to hear what I am saying in a meeting, and not to be distracted by my outfit. Remember what I mentioned earlier: you may have to stand up on camera, so make sure your bottom half is professional, too!
Try to avoid fidgeting, touching your face, playing with an object, looking elsewhere, moving away from your screen, eating, or constantly moving your computer.
Keep Everyone Engaged During a Remote Session
As well as simple informal meetings, you may have to run remote teamwork sessions, such as design thinking workshops or training sessions. If so, you’ll need to get your colleagues actively participating. To achieve this, it’s crucial to keep everybody focused and allow everyone to take part.
Obviously! But that’s often easier said than done. Any advice?
Sure! Let’s take a look at best practices in this area. 😊
The starting point is the same as for a classic meeting—it’s only the rules for participation and tools that will change a bit.
Plan Which Tools You’ll Need in Advance
Test them and check that your colleagues can all use them. Plan to share your screen with your presentation or any relevant documents, if that might help maintain focus. Some of the tools I’ll introduce later will let you show the results of your work in real time!
Explain the Rules
Explain when and how participants can take the floor.
There are lots of different tools you can use during these sessions, such as polls, timers, interactive whiteboards, word clouds, or online sticky notes.
Help Participants to Remain Focused
Put the agenda up on the screen and then tick off the items as you move through them. Stick to the timing you’ve set.
Manage Who Has the Floor
Sometimes, open questions such as “What do you think?” or “How does everyone feel about that?” can lead to chaotic responses. If you frame this as a game, however, you can make this chaos both fun and productive.
If you want a calmer option, use the “raise hand” function or the chat and give the floor to different participants in turn.
Manage Turn-Taking
Set time aside for participants to contribute and ask questions, and make sure you have a tactic for bringing the meeting back under your control in the event of a participant going off on a long and counterproductive monologue.
Don’t speak over participants, and keep an eye on the chat to respond to any potential comments.
Make Participation Fun
If you want to encourage interaction between participants, think about using breakout groups, and then asking the different groups to present the results of their work.
Run votes, copy popular game shows, or hold drawing competitions! If you feel that some participants aren’t comfortable, reassure them that it’s totally informal, and that they’ll enjoy it.
Use the Right Tools for Collaboration
If You Want to Split Into Breakout Groups
Certain tools have a built-in option for this (in Discord, for example, you can create separate rooms that can be either simple chat rooms or video calls), otherwise you can run several video calls at the same time (with one main meeting from which you give links to breakout group meetings in the chat), or you can even create several whiteboards if you’re using Mural for sticky notes. You might need several moderators to ensure it all runs smoothly. This will require a bit of preparation—set aside 15-30 minutes to create a Discord server with all of the rooms, for example.
If You Want to Use Word Cloud Tools
You can describe or sort information using a whole host of words or expressions. These words are sorted into lists using different filters or an image, called a word cloud. This is particularly useful when working with emotions.
For example: “How does this word make you feel…?” Some tools allow everyone to contribute, whereas others leave it up to the meeting chair.
If You Want to Run Quizzes or Polls
Kahoot! is great fun and has a timer to gamify your meeting experience. You can even use the app from your smartphone. For a calmer but less interactive version, you can use Google Forms.
If You Want to Use an Interactive Virtual Wall
When working as a group, you can organize ideas on a virtual whiteboard: pinning ideas, suggestions, links, images, or videos.
Klaxoon can be used for brainstorming, polls, etc., and it has a free version!
These tools have 30 models on offer for brainstorming, collaborating, prioritizing, etc., whether working in real time or asynchronously. They are free for up to three participants.
Miro offers sticky notes, crayons, images and more, as well as lots of models (six thinking hats, Customer Value Propositions, mood boards, BMCs, etc.) It's free for 14 days.
Let’s Recap!
Remote working tends to be mainly conducted through video calls. For maximum efficiency, always challenge whether these remote meetings are actually necessary. If they do take place, meetings will always need to be prepared ahead of time, both in terms of their actual organization and the goals and content.
When leading a meeting, always keep your goal in mind while being generous with participants and allowing everyone to have their say. You can run a productive meeting by framing it as a game, as long as you’re using the right tools.
As a participant, you’ll also need to adopt the right attitude: make sure you’re in a good setting, participate appropriately, and always show yourself in your best light.
Now that you have the best practices for remote meetings, let's look at what it takes to become full remote!
