7 Powerful Tips for Highly Productive Online Meetings

How to hold productive online meetings

Today, more businesses than ever are creating remote work plans and accommodating telecommuting and workplace flexibility. These arrangements make online meetings a necessity. Consider the following tips and best practices any business can implement to make virtual meetings and communication more effective and productive. 

1. Create a well-defined agenda for your online meetings.

Whether in-person or virtual, meetings can kill productivity when they meander and keep team members from crucial tasks. Online meetings are particularly vulnerable to confusion and wasted time. 

A clear agenda can prevent an unproductive online meeting and help keep everyone on topic. Here are some tips for creating an effective agenda: 

• Itemize your agenda: Create a formal meeting agenda ahead of time, listing everything that must be discussed. Address topics by priority and allot specific time limits to each subject.
• Specify participant roles: Your agenda should specify each participant’s role in the online meeting. Don’t let a participant be caught unaware that they’re expected to contribute or share crucial information.
• Send the agenda to all participants: Send the agenda to all participants at least 24 hours in advance and confirm that everyone received it.
• Send meeting reminders: To help everyone stay on track and attend the meeting, set an automated meeting reminder using your company’s calendar app, such as Outlook or Google Calendar.

2. Appoint a moderator for your online meeting.

A meeting without a moderator can quickly go off track. When you appoint a moderator, an authority figure can control the proceedings, stick to the agenda, help everyone stay focused and keep things running smoothly. Participants need the moderator’s permission to contribute to the discussion, eliminating the problem of people speaking out of turn. 

While moderators are essential for all meeting types, they’re crucial for online meetings and video conference calls because internet connectivity and audio or video quality issues can lead to miscommunications. A moderator can set the record straight, clarify issues and recap the proceedings.

3. Prepare all tech systems before the online meeting.

Ask all participants to restart their computers at least 20 minutes before the meeting. Instruct everyone to ensure their cameras and microphones are working correctly. Ask them to test their equipment beforehand.

Additionally, ensure your meeting platform supports multiple participants and has been updated to the latest version. If participants’ meeting software downloads updates as your meeting begins, confusion, delays and panic can ensue.

4. Set precise start and end times for your online meeting. 

Time-capping your meetings can significantly increase business productivity and help you extract more value in less time. For example, you can set the meeting duration to 30 minutes and earmark 10 minutes for each agenda point. This way, the participants will stay focused and the meeting will not go off track. Your participants understand you respect their time and don’t want to impact their workday. If additional discussions are needed, you can schedule them for after the group meeting. 

5. Minimize distractions during your online meeting.

Distractions can cause miscommunication in online meetings. To avoid distractions, ensure all participants sit in private rooms with proper lighting. Additionally, consider asking participants to use headphones and a collar microphone instead of their computer’s speakers and mic to ensure clear communication and minimize ambient noise.

6. Conclude the online meeting with specific action items.

Many meetings end with vague promises and assurances from attendees. The moderators are responsible for extracting action items for various agenda points and getting acknowledgment from all participants.

The moderator should do the following to ensure the meeting’s purpose is met and that all action items are effectively tracked: 

1. Create action items. 
2. Assign each action item to an individual or group. 
3. Agree on a deadline for each action item. 

7. Share meeting notes after the online meeting.

Once your online meeting concludes, send all participants a summary of the meeting notes. List the action item for each agenda point, along with the name of the person or group responsible for its delivery. Ask all participants to confirm receipt of the summary and ensure they understand everything discussed and agreed upon.

How to make an online meeting fun

Before planning an online meeting, brainstorm ways to keep remote workers engaged. Listening to a manager read from a cue card won’t reinvigorate your team. Here are some fun ways to liven up an online meeting:

• Make introductions: Go around the virtual meeting room and ask everyone to introduce themselves. This exercise acts as an icebreaker and sets the tone for the meeting.
• Introduce brainteasers: Start with a team-building exercise before getting down to business. Make it a contest to see which team can build the most creative object from Lego bricks or finish a puzzle first. A funny interactive quiz could also break the ice among online meeting attendees.
• Play a guessing game: Another icebreaker is to play a game of I Spy. Ask each participant to describe a unique item in their remote work area and have team members guess the object.
• Choose custom meeting backgrounds: It may sound insignificant, but who wants to look at everyone’s ceiling fan or odd art collection for every meeting? Choosing a meeting theme beforehand can give participants time to choose or make a custom background. You can even award a prize for the most creative background.
• Keep it on task: Respecting everyone’s time is just as crucial as having fun. Prepare for the meeting beforehand so you can spend a minimal amount of time on necessary business updates and still allow for time for workers to socialize.

Popular online meeting platforms 

Selecting a meeting platform is a crucial decision. Many online meeting technologies can help you host effective virtual conferences, calls and meetings. Consider your team size, meeting needs and budget when selecting the best platform for your online meetings. Here are a few options to consider. 

1. Zoom

Perhaps the most ubiquitous of all online meeting platforms, Zoom is excellent for gathering hundreds of people in a time-unlimited virtual setting with a user-friendly interface. Zoom is exceptionally well known for its chat tool, hand-raising tool and flexible meeting formats (webinars, panel presentations, breakout rooms, traditional meetings and more). 

The generous Zoom free plan includes up to 40-minute meetings with 100 participants. Pro and Business plan options start at $15.99 per user, per month, and include extended meeting capabilities and artificial intelligence functionality.  

2. Google Meet

Google Meet is an online meeting platform that’s part of Google Workspace. It offers 4K video, noise cancellation, subtitles and recording capabilities, among many other features. 

Google Meet seamlessly integrates with Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides, making it an excellent option for companies steeped in the Google ecosystem. For example, when you add an event to your Google Calendar and invite people to it, Google will generate a Meet link automatically to use on the meeting day. 

Google Meet has a 14-day free trial, so you can test the platform. After the trial, plans start at $6 per month, per user, with 100-plus participant video meetings, cloud storage, support and more.

3. GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is an excellent communication tool geared toward small businesses. It includes diagnostic reports, cloud recording and meeting transcriptions and has a handy “commuter mode” for mobile meetings. The feature can turn your phone screen into a color-coded audio/mute button and uses 90 percent less bandwidth.

Plans start at $14 per organizer, per month. Available add-ons include toll-free numbers and GoToWebinar integration.

4. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams stores files and chat histories in the same interface where you start calls. Since Teams is a Microsoft product, you can edit Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint slides and Excel spreadsheets collaboratively with other meeting attendees.

On the Microsoft Teams free tier, meetings can last no longer than 60 minutes; paid plans start at $4 per user, per month, and include broader options. Teams is a great choice for small businesses on a budget.

5. Webex Meetings

Webex Meetings has a robust free plan that includes meetings of up to 40 minutes with up to 100 attendees, local meeting recordings, screen sharing and unlimited whiteboard usage for continuous collaboration. Paid plans start at $14.50 per license, per month, and include noise cancellation, cloud storage, closed captions, a secure lobby to keep out uninvited guests, conference calling and much more.

Max Freedman contributed to this article.