The pandemic shutdown made Zoom a tool that almost everyone had to start using, from CEOs to K-12 students. But strangely, people didn’t seem to get much better at navigating Zoom’s many control buttons and operating the sound. It’s 2023 and meetings are still marked by “Can you hear me?” » Am I on mute? »
Inform participants in advance that the virtual meeting room will open 10 minutes early for a “run your mic and camera” grace period. If possible, have someone in the meeting room to help you resolve these issues.
Be consistent with the virtual platform you use for meetings. Moving from Zoom to Microsoft Teams to Google Meet introduces more variables that can cause delays.
For all types of meetings, make sure there is an agenda. Nothing makes a meeting longer than a lack of action and aimless conversation.
And speaking of conversation, limit small talk to five minutes (or less). If a team hasn’t met in a while, a few jokes are okay, but don’t let them derail the agenda. For regular meetings, hold social chat until after the meeting.
If participants feel rushed and are reluctant to have shorter meetings, remind them that time is money. You may find several “How much is this meeting costing us?” » calculators that will give you a good idea of how much money is wasted in long meetings.
How to Shorten Hybrid and In-Person Meetings
As with fully virtual meetings, consider opening the online meeting room and in-person space five to 10 minutes in advance, and make it clear in advance that hybrid meetings will not be interrupted to allow those online to settle down.
It’s difficult to regulate people’s distractions when they’re not in the room, but for anyone participating in person, consider adopting a “no phone distractions” policy during meetings. Telephones are silenced and put away except in cases of emergency. Instead of giving people an excuse to use their mobile device to check your calendar, consider printing it. No one likes wasting paper, but it might be worth it.
Speaking of agendas, yours, regardless of the type of meeting, should include targeted discussion times for each major topic. You may only need five minutes for some topics, while others may require 15 minutes or more. Write down these times so participants know what the time priorities are. If you want to take this idea to the next level, do what podcasters do to keep track of time: have a Pardon the interruption-style countdown for each topic. You can find many countdown apps or sites online for free. BigTimer.net is one of the easiest to use. It works from any browser, can be customized, and adds no cost to your meetings.
