{"id":4108,"date":"2022-01-22T11:08:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T11:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/?p=4108"},"modified":"2022-01-22T11:08:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T11:08:40","slug":"how-to-make-remote-meetings-more-efficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/how-to-make-remote-meetings-more-efficient\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Make Remote Meetings More Efficient"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s a brand new year and companies all over the world are looking for new ways in which they can embrace the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hybrid work culture<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Streamlining remote meetings is one way to increase the productivity of their employees.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nevertheless, it\u2019s time we make the most of the situation we\u2019re in, and figure out the best ways to work efficiently from the comfort of our own homes. Let\u2019s get started!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Have an Agenda<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem with remote meetings is that there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all rule which can be applied when crafting an agenda for the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Different meetings have <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">different workflows<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the best one can do is try to add some structure and organization to such meetings, to avoid endless meetings where you need to keep circling back to things on loop.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To avoid this, try to formulate a clear agenda prior to the meeting. Here\u2019s a list of things an agenda typically consists of, but you can always customize this and make it more in-depth!<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The goal(s) of the meeting, around which the topics of discussion will be based.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sections for specific topics that need to be discussed, along with sub-sections where the participants can add in their input.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A section where you can write notes and important points that have been made in the meeting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A section where you can write down the actionable goals from this meeting, which can then be reviewed in the next meeting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A concluding section that contains the key decisions that have been made from this meeting.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Suggested read:<a href=\"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/team-meeting-agenda\/\"> How to set and write effective meeting agenda [sample agendas]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. Practice Daily Standup Meetings<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most efficient ways that many teams have found useful while working in a primarily remote environment is having <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/geekbot.com\/blog\/daily-standup-meeting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">daily standup meetings<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to mark the progress of each team member as you work towards a shared goal or target.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A daily standup involves 3 important questions &#8211; what you worked on yesterday, what you\u2019re working on today, and if anything seems to be hindering your progress so far.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The purpose of having a standup is not to merely make sure tasks are completed, but it\u2019s also useful in bridging the gap in communication when a team works remotely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is also a major way to boost productivity, as you&#8217;re able to visually see how much you and your team are accomplishing through the small tasks you do every day, apart from also giving everyone a sense of accountability.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Don\u2019t Overdo Meetings<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When your work is completely remote and you don\u2019t meet your team very often, you can tend to over-compensate for this lack of communication by scheduling too many meetings every week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biggest downside to this is that it actually makes work much less efficient because too many meetings can drain people of their motivation and energy throughout the week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s best to have one main meeting where you discuss your agenda, and then have smaller meetings throughout the week only if it\u2019s absolutely necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why having an agenda is important because it prevents you from missing out on discussing all the important tasks of the week ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Also read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/voice-echoing\/\">Voice Echoing | 10 tips to fix voice echoing during video conference\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>4. Keep Track of Time<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though you\u2019d love to spend more time with your team, at least virtually, having long meetings that just don\u2019t end can in fact reduce the overall productivity of that day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studies show that having one online meeting can seem more tiring than having a couple of in-person meetings each day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To avoid this, make sure you <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">keep track of time<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and stay on schedule. You can always schedule fun catch-ups for later\u2014such as ice-breakers and other fun activities that your team can engage in. Most remote teams also have an evening of variety entertainment every once in awhile, where you can play games, perform something, or simply catch-up on everything that\u2019s been going on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Also read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/timeline-maker\/\">10 Best Timeline Makers 2022 | Compare Features &amp; Prices<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>5. Don\u2019t be the Only One Talking<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have a tendency of doing everything on your own to make sure there are no delays or mistakes, you might be used to taking charge of absolutely everything and making sure you get it all done, on time, every single day, with no dependencies on anyone else.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, when all your meetings are currently remote and your employees have to attend numerous meetings online until they can start working from the office again, things can get a little monotonous and reduce their attention span and interest if there\u2019s only one person who is actively talking and in-charge of all their meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Further read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/managing-remote-teams\/\">Managing Remote Teams: 15 effective tips that will come handy in 2022<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By delegating different roles to different people, the meeting automatically becomes more engaging and lively. For example, some of the roles you can give other employees are facilitator, note taker, agenda maker, etc. This also increases the interactivity between the team and breaks the monotony of online meetings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a brand new year and companies all over the world are looking for new ways in which they can embrace the hybrid work culture. Streamlining remote meetings is one way to increase the productivity of their employees. Nevertheless, it\u2019s time we make the most of the situation we\u2019re in, and figure out the best [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-remote-work","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4108"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4110,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108\/revisions\/4110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unremot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}