Tips for Effective Internet-based Meetings
With electronic meetings on the rise, it’s more important than ever to know how to make them as effective as possible. Here are some guidelines. For information on how to engage your clients using VoIP visit here.
| Prepare, prepare, prepare. When it comes to meeting productivity, a little extra prep time can go a long way. Preparation for an electronic meeting is just as important – if not more so – as when a group gathers face to face. It’s important to have a meeting agenda and distribute in advance (include meeting date, time and assigned phone number or pass code, if applicable). | |
| Keep it simple. Attention wanders during meetings – even more so in electronic meetings. Use the visual power of the Internet to reinforce key points and organize presentations into short segments so the audience can better retain information. | |
| Use audio to your advantage. With the absence of face-to-face contact, it’s important for the meeting facilitator to introduce himself and all meeting participants. Make transitions easy to follow by providing vocal cues to introduce new segments of the presentation. |
Research findings suggest corporate America should pursue the following Internet policies and solutions:
| Executives should encourage corporate adoption of Internet conferencing to reduce costs and improve productivity. | |
| When implementing Web-based conferencing in your organization, begin with specific applications in functional areas. Businesses that implement Internet conferencing to address a specific need, with tangible goals, will be more successful. Identify applications that will reduce sales or product cycle time (remote training, staff meetings), help you reach customers and prospects more efficiently (Web seminars), facilitate communication within remote work groups (weekly project meetings) or improve investor relations (Web-based quarterly earnings updates, shareholder meetings). | |
| Organizations already using audio and videoconferencing should add Web-based conferencing to enhance meeting practices. Advances in Web-based technology now make it possible to meet with others via the Web to collaborate on projects, present information and reach new customers in ways never before imagined. The survey shows that employees are comfortable using the Internet and welcome new collaborative solutions. | |
| When selecting an Internet conferencing provider, companies should focus on quality as their chief criterion, choose a provider offering solutions that enhance the meeting experience and minimize technical obstacles. The underlying technology should be transparent to the participants. Other requirements, such as ease of use and secure transmission, rank lower on the list of user needs. | |
| Organizations should establish a policy that requires business travelers to consider audio, video or Web conferencing as an alternative. If travel is warranted, Internet use while on business trips will help employees manage professional and personal duties, while reducing the stress of travel. Remote access during travel helps professionals stay in touch with the office, manage travel plans, keep in touch with family and attend to personal tasks such as banking and shopping. | |
| Remember that technology is simply the means to an end – the real focus is collaboration. Web-based conferencing tools enable us to work in new ways. But collaboration is a process, not an automatic result of having people connected electronically. Organizations that invest in the technology without a commitment (training, executive-level endorsement, specific objectives, improvement in meeting skills) to new collaborative processes are not likely to reap the benefits of these promising new tools. |