How to Hold Remote Meetings That Arent 90 Percent Day Dreaming

How to Hold Remote Meetings That Arent 90 Percent Day Dreaming They say 9 out of 10 people daydream in meetings. The figure is bandied about the Internet a fair bit, and its not hard to imagine its true. Its natural that the mind wanders when presented with information that doesnt directly affect us or simply when meetings are long enough.Hillary Ferguson has already explained in a previous postthe best way to host productive workplace meetings, namely- Be specific.- Invite the right people.- Have a meeting plan.- Recap duties until the next meeting at the end.But whatif your employees do not have that base physical contact to go off? Remote meetings are especially at risk of going down the drain, becausewithout a physical point of contact, your team members will be less sensitive to whats going on especially if it doesnt directly involve them.How can you ensure that a meeting is productive when youre not even in the same room with all of your team m embers? Here are a few ideas1. Get Everyone ContributingJust because youre separated by space, thatdoesnt mean that your team should give up on collaborating and communicating. In fact, remote teams need to communicate more than your standard office to ensure that they dont become isolated and lose motivation. This should be a priority from the get-go with your employee onboarding.The need for communication should be reflected in your remote meetings by getting every team member present to contribute something to the meeting its not a lecture, after all. For example, back at Process Street, the system is that every member of the content team will have a turn to present their achievements since the last meeting, anything that requires approval, and any pitches they have. This is all done over a Skype call whileutilizing a group Slack channel to store links to various resources.By allowing each member to talk to the rest of the team, you ensuring that no member is isolated and commun ication outside of meetings is naturally encouraged. leid only this, but youre also creating the framework for one hell of an efficient feedback loop with very few potential tangents If every team member knows what theyre presenting, then theres little room for unnecessary detours.2. Know Your TechWhat comes into your head when you think office meeting? Although it may vary a little, chances are that youve pictured someone standing in front of a whiteboard or PowerPoint presentation, demonstrating what the latest graph shows to the rest of the room. Although cliched, this allows the rest of the participants to comment on their findings in real time very easily, without any barriers getting in the way.Remote meetings do not have this luxury. Theres no room to stand up in, only a computer screen linking you to the other team members. While graphs can be sent to the rest of the team, watching a pie chart on screen while a voice explains what you can all clearly landsee is a surefire wa y to geteveryone wandering off into their own heads.The solution? Collaborative technology.For example, if you have meeting notes, consider opening a shared section of Workflowy to allow everyone access. If youre asking for approval of a blog post or marketing plan, put it in a Google Doc thats accessible to everyone so that no contentis walled off from anyone.bedrngnis only does this allow the entire team to be aware of whats going on, but it also instantly makes content relevant to all present in the meeting, as they have the resource available to view.3. Re-Establish Visual ContactEarlier, I mentioned the lack of physical contact being a problem for remote meetings and teams in general. Without being face-to-face, theres a very serious risk of the dreaded sense of isolation setting in.Well, who said that just because you arent in the same room, you cant see each other?By holding a meeting using a Skype video call or Google Hangouts (our preference at Process Street), you re-estab lish the vital face-to-face connection which naturally ensures that your team will be more alert and aware of themselves. Rather than daydream in a video call, the whole team will make the extra effort to stay focused, as everyone can see everyone else and potentially call them out on their lack of attention.In short, yes, remote meetings can make it much harder to keep the whole room engaged. However, if you play your cards right, these meetings can be as productive as their office counterparts and perhaps even more soBenjamin Brandall is a writer for Process Street.