Tuesday, May 12
By Katherine Schneider, for the CVPost
Isn’t it amazing: people figured out very quickly how to keep on having meetings even in the Corona era!
As a person who has attended meetings remotely for many years, I’m an expert on the fine art of making meetings fun and productive remotely.
First of all, the technology has to be simple enough so all can play. Even the fancy platforms like Zoom and WebEx have a phone in option.
If someone doesn’t have a techie bone in their body or lives with low bandwidth, encourage them to phone in. They can’t be seen or see others, but some prefer this anyway. It’s easier to multi-task on the phone!
If there are a dozen or fewer participants, start with some ice breaker question to hear from everyone for a sentence or so. That way they get used to muting and unmuting themselves to talk and get more comfortable with the remote format.
Go slower! Ask a question and leave some dead air even after you think everyone has had time to answer. Count to five in your head before moving on.
If you’re sighted, start listening for nonverbal cues. You’re used to looking at folks to see their reactions, but you can learn to listen for tone of voice and small sounds of assent or dissent (an advantage of leaving people unmuted).
If you leave everyone unmuted and people talk on top of each other, jump in and start calling on people by name. If both John and Mary talked at once, call on whichever one you’ve heard less from. Remember to call on lurkers at least once to be sure they have a chance to say something.
When a dog barks or a kid screams, laugh and move on. Scolding people about muting spoils the mood more than occasional unexpected interruptions. You can expect interruptions – maybe a sun spot killed the Internet or multiple virtual meetings are occurring in one household at a time. Just keep moving.
Think about the benefits: you don’t have to dress up other than from the waist up with the platforms with cameras; the commuting time is now your free time and you can have a beverage of your choice, not the company’s bad coffee.
Note: the home page image is a representation of a coronavirus cell.
To read previous instalments of “The Corona Chronicles,” click here.