We all know that virtual meeting save time and money, but these tips will show you how to be more productive during your online gatherings. As a professional meeting planner here are some of our favorite virtual meeting tools:

How would you like to leave a meeting with less stress, increased focus and the ability to make decisions faster?

That’s exactly what we discovered on a recent call where participants were equipped with several new technologies and techniques aimed at boosting productivity. The result was an amazing 87 percent increase in focus compared to traditional conference calls.

We’ve found nine easy ways to achieve this level of clarity on your next call:

Use Latest Tech.

Instead of placing everyone on speakerphone or using screen sharing (which distracts participants as they find their own quiet space to look at the screen), try using a virtual meeting technology that enables you to have private conversations.

Meetings are better when they’re one-on-one instead of everyone talking over each other, so take advantage of this by enabling people to talk privately with whomever they need to. Of course it’s important to note that certain topics require discussion in front of the entire team, but by allowing for both types of discussions, you’ll enable more productive meetings.

Use Video

Many people don’t like speaking on camera or sharing their image online because it forces them out of their comfort zone and creates an awkward formality in virtual meetings . But there is no substitute for seeing facial expressions and body language (such as pointing) that are better communicated when you can see someone in person. Video allows people to feel comfortable and keep the meeting casual.

Use Virtual Meeting Technology

Using technologies that makes your call more interactive in a conference video is great for virtual meetings, but it’s still easy to get distracted by other things or check email during your online meetings. Try using a tool that enables everyone on the call to send instant feedback back to the speaker , creating an ongoing dialogue between all participants throughout the meeting. This instant feedback gives people permission to interrupt, ask questions and express opinions without having to wait for others’ turns or worry about detracting from anyone else’s presentation. When everyone participates in this way, they take ownership of the meeting objective, which creates a much more productive.

Mix up Activities

The more engaged people are, the more likely it is that they will feel a sense of ownership in virtual meetings . Don’t overuse one tool over another during your meetings because you could fail to maximize the benefit of each tool. Rotate between all tools throughout the meeting so everyone remains engaged and has an opportunity to use each technology as appropriate for their needs.

Focus on Outcomes

When it comes to virtual meeting, the purpose should always be clearly defined in order to help you stay on track. The best way to ensure this is to ensure everyone knows the desired outcome of your meeting ahead of time so they have a clear understanding about why they are joining.

This will prevent people from being distracted by unrelated topics that come up during the course of the meeting and help them speak more directly toward achieving stated objectives. These tips are just a few ways to improve your next online gathering.

Share the link

Once you’ve determined the best technology and activities to use during your meeting, make sure people receive links ahead of time so they can join from wherever they are. This will save you valuable time later on as you don’t have to spend as much time explaining how the meeting works.

Use a timer to track virtual meeting

We all know that virtual meeting can go on longer than expected because there’s no easy way to keep track of how much time is spent talking about each topic.

You should never rely on someone else to be responsible for keeping an eye on the clock during virtual meetings, which means it’s up to participants themselves to enforce a strict timeline. That means clearly stating what needs to happen at certain intervals throughout your call or even setting a countdown clock in the corner of your meeting room to help people self-regulate.

Be present when you’re running into issues

A quick glance at the screen can tell you if everyone has joined and is ready to start, if technology is having any glitches or even whether there are any signs of potential trouble brewing (such as someone looking like they are not paying attention).

Instead of waiting for things to go wrong before you address them, make it a point to regularly check in with each member on your call so that everyone feels empowered to speak up when they notice something’s amiss. When this happens, people feel valued and respected, which helps prevent potential misunderstandings from arising over time.

Have fun!

It might seem trivial, but I believe it’s also important to do what you can to make the process fun and exciting for everyone involved. This can take a variety of forms depending on your preferences and industry, such as holding an online contest or using funny avatars if that’s not something you usually do. The main thing is that people have the opportunity to connect with each other in a more personal way .

Once you’ve established these general guidelines , getting started will be quick and easy for both you and your team members. First decide which tools to use. Then determine which activities would be most valuable during your meeting based on the goals at hand. Finally, consider how to ensure everyone has a chance to speak up when necessary so they feel heard throughout the course of the conversation.

As you can see, holding virtual meeting doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require some advance corporate event planning and follow-through in order to meet all your goals . If you find yourself struggling with one aspect of the process or another, keep this article handy for future reference.

These tips will definitely help you have better virtual meeting, but just as with any new tool, these concepts work best when participants approach them from a positive point of view rather than trying to force existing behaviors into new mediums.

Ultimately this results in a much more productive collaboration experience no matter where or how many teammates are participating. For example, our recent call we observed a dramatic increase in focus and productivity using virtual meeting technology.

However, we also had several participants who were participating remotely from multiple locations — some with extremely high quality connections and others with slower internet speeds – making it difficult to apply all four of these tips at once since the video didn’t always work well for everyone on that particular call.

This proves that while new technologies can definitely help improve your meetings, it’s important to be flexible in how you approach them so they best benefit both you and your team.

So why not try out these three tips with your next virtual meeting? You can review these tricks of the trade to become a more productive remote meeting attendee or speaker.

As experienced conference planners we love teaching and giving back to the community to help others run successful conferences. We hope you found out tips insightful and enjoyed reading it.

Let us know what you think about our Virtual Meeting Tips!