Many companies have asked their employees to work remotely to slow down the spread of coronavirus. The following tips on effective online meetings have been provided by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), who have kindly given us permission to reproduce.
- Embrace video calling. Being present and seeing each other is an important part of keeping connected. Don’t hide away or do other work during the meeting.
- Use headsets or earphones. This will give better sound quality. Speak directly into the mic and remember to mute it when not speaking to limit background noise.
- Speak clearly and steadily. This will help ensure everyone can understand you. And try to modulate your voice, to keep people interested and engaged.
- Establish etiquette guidelines. Agree a system to give everyone a voice. Arrange ‘hands up’ signals to agree who speaks next and use chat functions to allow everyone to contribute.
- Repeat the question. The chair or presenter should repeat questions they ask or before answering them, to ensure all participants are aware of the original question. Repeating the question in writing within a chat box could provide additional clarity.
- Use names and give context. When responding to chat comments, repeat the relevant remarks and make clear who you’re responding to. Don’t just say ‘yes, Jane that’s right’ because others may not have seen Jane’s comment and it won’t make sense to them.
- Keep slides simple. Keep to a single thought per slide to help participants understand and focus on what’s being discussed. It’s better to have more slides with fewer things on them.
- Keep slides visual. Your participants may be joining from a mobile device and wordy slides will be tough to read. Anchor your presentation on relevant, image-based slides.
- Engage participants regularly. It’s hard to simply listen online for a long time. Invite participants to give comments or ask questions, and use tools like chat or polls.
- Be explicit about actions and summarise. Spell out clearly any actions that need to be taken and by whom. Summarise meeting takeaways and circulate notes promptly.
For the PDF version of this guide and more top tips: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/flexible-working/remote-working-top-tips
