10 Tips for Facilitating Remote Meetings
Most of the best practices that apply to in-person meetings are applicable to remote meetings as well. However, these two modes of meetings are not exactly the same and trying to facilitate a remote meeting as if it were in-person is a common mistake.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when facilitating remote meetings:
1. What’s the point…
Connecting with others using technology is as easy as clicking a button or tapping an icon, and it can be tempting to virtually gather on a whim. But meeting for the sake of meeting is a waste of everyones time. Having a very clear purpose for the meeting, creating an agenda with objectives and desired outcomes, and following these throughout the meeting are essential steps for ensuring your remote meetings are productive and engaging.
2. Servant not Master…
Don’t let technology drive your meeting, use it to support and enhance the experience. Sure, polls are fun, virtual whiteboards are cool, and breakout rooms are great. But it’s easy to get sucked into the technology at the expense of productivity. This means use only the functionality you need to achieve your meeting’s purpose.
3. Test, One, Two…
They say practice makes perfect. When it comes to remote meetings, testing may not result in perfection, but it can certainly help to avoid technology glitches. Before your remote meeting, test your connection and system functionality and “strongly encourage” participants to login and test their systems at least 10 minutes before start time. Also, remember that even best-laid plans can fail, so have a backup if your technology fails – the good old fashioned telephone is always an option!
4. Who’s in Charge…
Watching a screen of faces in boxes, waiting for someone to say something. That’s what happens if no one is leading the remote meeting. Usually, the person who called the meeting is the one in charge, but that does not always have to be the case. Depending on the meeting purpose, you could rotate roles. Just make sure someone is in charge.
5. I Can’t See You…
My living room is a mess, my kid is home with a cold, my camera doesn’t work… these are just a few reasons participants give for not turning on their webcam. But we all know that words make up just 7% of communication. Being able to see people – their facial expressions, gestures, and body language – increases clear and effective communication and enables the facilitator to maximize participant engagement.
6. Breaking Ice…
Whether meeting remotely with team members who know each other or with a group of people who’ve never met, it is often a good idea to kick things off with an icebreaker. A quick, fun “getting to know you” activity sets the tone for the rest of the meeting and helps with ongoing participation and engagement.
7. Manners Matter…
Keyboard clicking, rustling paper, looking down at a cellphone, slouching, crunching carrots, talking over others, multitasking. We’ve all done these things in meetings, and when there are 15 people in a room, they may not seem too bad. But during remote meetings they are very distracting and can be perceived as rude and disrespectful. As a group, set some ground rules upfront, and as facilitator, hold everyone accountable.
8. So Many Great Ideas…
Whiteboards, flipcharts, sticky notes, matrices, tables, charts – we need these to generate ideas and make decisions. Or do we? It is absolutely possible, in fact sometimes it’s even more effective, to brainstorm virtually. And while there is amazing technology to assist with brainstorming, it can also be done using a simple Word document on a shared screen. Regardless of the method, you can use remote meetings to bring together people from across the company, province, country or globe to share their genius.
9. Next Steps…
Well that was a massive waste of time… is what participants will say when the ideas generated and actions decided on during your remote meeting disappear into the ether. Sharing action items and decisions after a meeting is just good practice. Following up after remote meetings is even more important, because you may not have regular contact with participants to say “hey, don’t forget to send everyone that document you mentioned in our meeting last week.”
10. What’s the Time…
Unless you’re an early bird, you would be frustrated if someone in Ottawa scheduled a meeting for 8:00 am Eastern time. The same goes for someone in Vancouver scheduling a meeting with a Halifax colleague at 4:00 pm Pacific Time. One of the greatest advantages of remote meetings is that people from around the globe can join. But this means knowing time zones, and making sure you schedule your remote meetings at a time that is suitable for everyone involved.
FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, Teams, GoToMeeting, Slack… the list goes on and on. The technology you use for your remote meetings may be dictated by your organization’s technology/systems, or you may get to choose for yourself. Regardless of the system you are using, following the above tips will help you get the most out of your remote meetings.
Helen Schneiderman, Senior Consultant
helens@kwelaleadership.com