No matter what you sell or how you run your company, meetings are a necessity.\u00a0 They may be dreadful for many of us, but there are ways to make them go quicker and be more effective, resulting in less meetings over time.\u00a0 When you have off site employees, online meetings can cut down on driving time (or may be the only choice for far away contractors), but can become easily disorganized if not planned properly.\u00a0 Here are some ways to keep those online meetings on track.<\/p>\n
Audio Choices:\u00a0 <\/strong>Have both Call-in and VoIP options available when hosting a meeting.\u00a0 This allows employees who are on the road to call in from a cell when they are away from computers.\u00a0 The opposite can also be an issue, as I have often found myself with internet access but with poor cell signal.<\/p>\n Agenda:<\/strong>\u00a0 Have an agenda and stick to it.\u00a0 It is easy to get side tracked on a subject when meeting online.\u00a0 Without visual cues to let someone know their time is done, people tend to talk more on the phone or computer.<\/p>\n Keep it Short:<\/strong>\u00a0 Focus on a single subject or two at most, and keep the meetings under an hour.\u00a0 Meetings are a good way to discuss future plans and project instructions, but you can\u2019t put those plans in motion if you are stuck in meetings.<\/p>\n Direct your Meeting: <\/strong>Controlling your meeting is absolutely essential unless you want everyone talking over each other.\u00a0 Directing questions to each person and cutting off people when they have said their piece will keep the meeting moving quickly and prevent overlap.<\/p>\n Limit Background Noise:<\/strong>\u00a0 Make sure your staff knows if they have annoying background noise that could interrupt the meeting.\u00a0 Things such as fans, televisions, or even family members for those of us that work at home, can cause disruptions during meetings or make it hard to hear speakers.\u00a0 Many times staff don\u2019t realize how loud the noise is, and having them mute their mic or phone when they aren\u2019t speaking can help the meeting.<\/p>\n Encourage Interactivity:<\/strong>\u00a0 When staff are engaged in discussion, they are more likely to be productive.\u00a0 If you speak the whole time, and leave no time for them to get a word in, they will lose interest and stop trying.\u00a0 Ask for opinions and promote discussion amongst your team.<\/p>\n These are just a few tips to help improve your meetings.\u00a0 What little things have you found that help your meetings go smoother?\u00a0 Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No matter what you sell or how you run your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[723,757,392,417,727],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}