Some argue that since an online meeting is not equivalent to an in-person meeting, it is acceptable to disregard meeting etiquette. However, this is a very erroneous assumption. The standards of business etiquette apply to communication with a coworker or customers across the world. Besides, online meeting etiquettes are essential while attending an online class or webinar. Let’s take a look at some ground rules for virtual meeting etiquette to avoid awkward situations.
11 Etiquettes for Attending Online Meetings
Make a Detailed Action Plan
Aside from their birthdays, most people don’t enjoy surprises, so make sure that your virtual meetings have a well-planned agenda that is communicated to participants before the meeting even begins.
Having a detailed agenda for the meeting makes it easier to keep on track and ensures that all of the important topics are covered. People should also have the opportunity to reflect on how they might contribute significantly to the processes that are taking place as a result of this.
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Maintain Proper Attire and Cleanliness
Participants should properly attire themselves while attending an online meeting. It is important to keep in mind that dressing officially is not the same as dressing correctly. Being natural and casual is perfectly acceptable.
Cleanliness is necessary to attend an online meeting. Wearing clean clothes will make the virtual meeting attendees decent and professional.
Stay Cautious about Background
Are there pictures of your family in the background? Great. What about, pajamas or an unorganized room? The answer is no.
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Try to use virtual backgrounds for online meetings. It would be wise to choose simple, elegant, and modest backgrounds. Applying some creativity you can create customized backgrounds.
It would be professional to keep the children and pets away until your online meeting ends. However, don’t be embarrassed if your child or pet accidentally appears during an online meeting.
Be Punctual
Having people wait for you is a certain way to get off to a terrible start. However, keeping to the schedule is not just about when you arrive, so make sure that things don’t run late.
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This may be made easier by itemizing your meeting agenda, but you should also try to avoid having too many talking topics at one meeting.
Keep in mind that there should be time set out at the beginning of your meetings for some casual conversation, and after things have gotten rolling, be sure to wrap up each issue by discussing what can be done about it before moving on to the next one.
Talk to the Camera
Whether you are attending an online business meeting, official meeting, learning session, sales meeting, or webinar, it is recommended that you always address the camera while you are speaking.
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If you are presenting a subject, you should make every effort to avoid conversing with the individual who is located at the bottom of your screen the whole time. In fact, this is not particularly feasible for virtual meetings.
Having said that, speaking directly into the camera may help build trust with your audience and keep their attention. However, the most important thing you can do is just be pleasant and be yourself! This will inspire participants to respond when you ask them questions, engage them in the discussion, and run polls.
Start with Introduction
An informal introduction in which you introduce yourself, a panel, or participants may make everyone feel at ease and get the meeting off to a good start in a more official setting. In addition to this, it offers those who are running late the opportunity to join the meeting without losing out on anything, and it fosters a spirit of cooperation for productive and interesting gatherings.
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Minimize Distractions
Your virtual conference platform should provide a secure environment for your data, but encryption techniques won’t be able to assist participants to forget that you accidentally shared your screen with them.
Therefore, in order to maintain proper etiquette during online meetings, you should disable alerts, log out of social media and chat applications, and only keep the tabs and windows that you need open.
Take Breaks
A useful ground rule for virtual meetings is that every meeting that lasts longer than an hour should include a break. However, a break does not have to be an intermission in its traditional sense; instead, you should merely aim to vary things up for five or six minutes.
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People will have the opportunity to relax and reset their minds if you do any of the following: play a little movie, conduct an in-meeting poll, or take some time to respond to queries.
During the breaks, the participants need to turn off their cameras and microphone.
Take Notes and Distribute them Afterword
If there is a recording of the meeting, there is no need for arduous note-taking; thus, pick a platform that offers automatic replays and let participants know they will be given the recording by email as soon as the meeting is over. This will eliminate the need for laborious note-taking.
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When you launch an event on the finest video engagement platforms, it is simple to set up automatic mailing and recording, all hosts offer unlimited storage for meeting replays, and you can see who viewed the recordings in your analytics dashboard.
What happens if one of the people you invited cannot make it to the all-hands meeting? They, too, will get a recording, making it simple for them to catch up.
Turn Down the Volume or Mute
Before we begin the meeting, make sure that your mute button is turned on unless You Want to be Heard. This helps to lessen the amount of background noise as well as interruptions while someone is speaking. When it is your turn to talk or when it is needed of you to do so, you will have the option to unmute yourself.
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Don’t Make Keyboard Typing Noise
Taking notes is a perfectly acceptable practice in any situation. The sound of typing, on the other hand, maybe rather distracting for everyone. Even though it can sound archaic, writing down notes on paper is an alternative that you might want to think about. Therefore, keep your hands off the Keyboard while attending an online meeting.
Conclusion
During the epidemic, the system of virtual meetings worked as a savior for continuing business, education, and official processes. It has resulted in positive outcomes for companies, offices, business entities, and education centers all over the globe.
In the post-pandemic era, online meetings have become an increasingly prevalent practice. It should be considered a superb tool for professional communication and distant cooperation.
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So far, we have discussed 11 online meeting etiquette tips that participants can follow to make the event more efficient and successful.
Source: United News of Bangladesh