As the world is getting more accustomed to working from home, most of the work has shifted online. From in-house meetings to client meetings as well as staff/employee management performance. But what exactly goes on in the conference calls? Whether video or audio. When work conference calls are being made, there are usually a lot of disruptions. How can you make your meetings more effective?

Schedule meetings ahead of time

Send out the invitation links for the meeting with emphasis on the time early enough to avoid people from joining the call in phases. This brings about distractions and time lags because the meeting facilitator keeps going back and forth trying to re-introduce the new participants and trying to bring them on board to where the rest of the team was at the point of entry. Don’t forget to introduce whoever joins the call to acknowledge their presence.

Have a plan   

Before scheduling a meeting virtually, make sure you have an agenda. Scheduling calls without a clear agenda usually leads to meeting about everything.  This typically takes longer and achieves little. 

Make it a Video conference call

Whereas audio calls seem more convenient, video calls encourage participants to prepare physically and mentally. They are also alert all through because they are physically involved and engaged. However, it should be noted that video calls can be challenging depending on the network signal so be flexible to switch to audio when this happens.

Participation and interaction

When there are many people on the call, some people tend to be left out of the call. Switching back and forth from the meeting facilitator (host) to the rest of the participants leaves a few people out. As a result, the main points are missed and there is potential for miscommunication. 

Consequently, having everyone participate keeps the whole team alert. Find a way of drawing people into the call by having each of them contribute by either asking for their opinions on something or contributing to the topic at hand.

It is also imperative that you constantly remind everyone to keep their microphones on mute if they aren’t saying anything. This reduces distractions from people’s backgrounds.

Keep it short

Before starting the meetings, set a strict time limit (how long the meeting will take). Time enough to cover the whole agenda. The shorter meetings are, the more productive. According to a blog by Workest, a resource for small business professionals, Microsoft at a point tried to limit the number of participants on each call. 

They also limited their meetings to 30 minutes and capped the participation at 5 people. This helped them reduce their meeting time while increasing productivity by 40%.

Record the meeting

This is convenient for those that weren’t able to be on the call. They are able to follow-up. It is also a way of holding people accountable. If roles are given in the meetings, a recording of the call with all the distribution of roles is made to act as evidence when it comes to delivery and assessment. –

Meetings are a tool to increase coordination and productivity. The different ways proposed here will help you achieve that as you hold your online meetings.