How to Improve Virtual Meetings and How to Manage a Meeting Successfully

The sheer number of virtual meetings that employees are required to attend can feel overwhelming. Many employees are experiencing virtual meeting fatigue.

It is imperative for managers and meeting administrators to find efficient tips on how to run meetings better. With virtual meetings, clues are difficult to read. Therefore, if meeting administrators do not learn how to run meetings effectively, their teams are going to be left feeling tired and drained, and it will leave a negative impact on morale.

This guide has been created to discuss strategies on how to improve staff meetings, how to reduce meetings at work, and how to manage a meeting successfully. As remote work increases, employers and leaders of business will need to re-examine how they are hosting meetings and using videoconferencing tools with the goal of keeping energy and morale high.

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How to Improve Staff Meetings

If you were to ask your team how they would score your weekly meetings on a scale of one to 10, what grade would they give you? Many of your employees may score your meetings between six and eight. Thankfully, there are some concrete things you can do to have better meetings. There are also tips you can follow on how to manage a meeting successfully.

Be Punctual and Positive

If you want to know how to improve meetings at work, you must start at the beginning. Starting meetings on time shows that you value the time of your employees. Beginning a meeting with good news starts things off on a positive note and allows you to show the human face of your organization by sharing positive personal and business experiences.

Keep Reports Informative, Accurate, and Concise

Do you want to know how to improve meetings at work instantly? Make them informative, present accurate information, and encourage everyone to present information in the most concise way possible. Numbers, priorities, and everything quantifiable about your business pertaining to the meeting should be discussed. This is the reporting phase. The goal is not to solve any issues but simply lay out the facts.

Part of learning how to improve weekly team meetings is learning how to prevent them from getting derailed. If during the reporting phase you notice that certain numbers are off track or certain employees or customers need to be discussed, put that on the list of issues to be discussed at the end or on another day. Prioritizing the information needing to be discussed is how to improve weekly team meetings. Make sure that you are only talking about the most important things that need to be discussed in that meeting.

Have a Checklist

Everyone wants to know how to reduce meetings at work. The answer is a to-do list. In each meeting there should be a checklist of the assignments that people were asked to complete from the previous meeting. You will have better meetings if everyone comes to the meeting feeling that they are accountable for something. If during the meeting it becomes apparent that certain people aren’t carrying their weight, write down the concerns and leave that for another time. Don’t allow the laziness of a few to derail the meeting. 

Address Issues

A key on how to have effective online meetings is creating an issue document or using software where you can write down all the issues that need to be addressed. When it comes time to discuss issues, it is not a debate. Everyone goes into the meeting understanding the issues that need to be discussed. It can be hard to understand how to have effective online meetings to discuss issues that do not become a debate.

Meeting leaders must accept the responsibility of guiding their team so that they understand what the real issue is and spend most of the time in the meeting trying to solve the issue. Some weeks you may be able to discuss several issues. During other weeks, there may be only time for one. The key on how to improve virtual meetings is to prioritize the most important issues first. 

Conclude on Time

One of the most efficient meetings tips you will receive is to start on time and end on time. When you end a meeting on time, you show that you care about your team and respect their time. During the last five minutes of the meeting, you can conclude by discussing a recap of the meeting, reviewing the to-do list, and then ranking the meeting on a scale of one to 10. Ask the meeting attendees how to improve virtual meetings that your organization is having. This will give you valuable feedback.

How to Have Effective Zoom Meetings

The success of your virtual meetings will depend on determining when and how to have Zoom meetings. You may opt to hold a meeting at the start of each quarter with the CEO to set goals. Schedule a two-hour annual virtual meeting to review the past year’s achievements and plan for the next year. And your organization may schedule one-hour meetings per department per week to make sure that everyone is on track with their goals.

Virtual meetings are not going anywhere. Business leaders must follow effective strategies to ensure the well-being of their remote teams, drive performance, and improve engagement during virtual meetings.

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This blog article is not intended to be the rendering of legal, accounting, tax advice or other professional services. Articles are based on current or proposed tax rules at the time they are written and older posts are not updated for tax rule changes. We expressly disclaim all liability in regard to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this blog as well as the use or interpretation of this information. Information provided on this website is not all-inclusive and such information should not be relied upon as being all-inclusive.

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