Online meetings can be productive, or they can waste everyone's time and leave people frustrated. Much of the difference comes down to a few habits that every participant, not just the host, can practise.
I first wrote this in 2015 about Webex. The tools have changed since then (Zoom, Teams, Meet and the rest), and since 2020 we have designed a great many online and hybrid sessions. The habits have not changed much.
Get the audio right
Audio is the primary channel. If people cannot hear you, nothing else matters.
- Choose a quiet place. When your microphone is on, everyone hears your background.
- Use a headset or a decent external microphone. A laptop microphone sits next to the keyboard and the fan, and everyone will hear both.
- Have a fallback. If your connection is poor, dial in by phone for audio and keep the video on your laptop.
Control your microphone
Think of the mute button as connected to your lips. When your lips are still, you are muted. In an ideal call there is only one live microphone at any moment, which leaves the airwaves clear for others to respond.
Speak for the whole room
- Speak clearly and slowly, especially in international meetings where many people are working in a second language.
- Check you can be heard. If you are about to speak for more than a minute, ask: "How loud and clear am I, from one to ten?" People can answer in the chat. If most scores are below five, fix your audio first. There is no point talking for five minutes to people who cannot hear you.
- Say your name before you speak in larger meetings, so people who are not watching the screen know who is talking.
Arrive early
Join ten minutes early to get the technology working. Otherwise the first ten or fifteen minutes disappear in "Can you hear me?", multiplied by everyone who is waiting.
Be visible, and participate
- Turn your camera on if you can, with light in front of you rather than behind.
- Use the tools. Chat, reactions, polls and whiteboards like Mural or Miro let more people contribute at once than speaking ever can.
- Close everything else. Email is the online equivalent of daydreaming in a meeting, and everyone can tell.
For hosts and facilitators
Online, attention is shorter and silence is harder to read. We design online sessions with shorter inputs, more frequent small-group work in breakout rooms, live polling with Slido and visual collaboration boards, so that everyone's thinking is visible. Sean's book ONLINE covers how to do this with LEGO® Serious Play®. If you have an important online or hybrid session coming up, see meeting facilitation.
Sean Blair is the founder of ProMeet and Serious Outcomes, an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and a LEGO® Serious Play® Master Trainer. About Sean.