These are the best zoom meeting tips you’ll find. I will show you how to get the most out of your meetings and make them successful. Zoom meetings are widely used for online video conferencing, meaning that you can hold a meeting with people on your team or clients from across the world, as long as they have internet access and a webcam. Plus, there are many different features that can benefit remote teams with portable equipment like laptops and smartphones. Put these tips to use today!
1. Use the Whiteboard
The best feature of zoom meetings is the whiteboard. You can write anything you want on it and it will appear on all participants’ screens, as well as be recorded in the meeting transcript. This feature is fantastic for brainstorming sessions, coming up with plans, and structuring your ideas into a visual form that can be understood by others easily. It makes great note-taking easy, meaning that you don’t need to transcribe notes from your meeting later on after you have forgotten important details. However, it is also an excellent way of keeping track of who suggested what idea or action point and ensure that people are assigned appropriate tasks afterward.
2. Use Presenter View
A common complaint about video conferences is that it can be distracting to see someone else off-screen, whether they are mobile and moving around or simply scrolling through their computer while trying to talk to the group. If you have a remote presenter, they may feel that their movements are distracting or that they’re constantly checking the screen instead of talking to the group. Using presenter view can help this issue as it allows the presenter to move freely around on the main display while still appearing on screen for everyone else in a small box in one corner of your screen. It also enables the presenter to display their notes and resources in a way that is easy for everyone else to see.
However, remember that some people will want presenter view on and others will want it off and this may influence how well or accurately they can explain their ideas or instructions. The best solution is to allow the audience members to decide whether they want presenter view on or not using a vote. This way, no one feels like they are being forced into something they do not want yet you still have the option of showing everyone what the person talking looks like on screen if they’re speaking at length about a complex piece of equipment or software.
3. Use the Zoom App
Many people forget that they can use the zoom app on their phone or tablet to connect with a meeting, as well as desktop and laptop computers. Everyone who wants to join your meeting will have to download and install the zoom app before it will work, but this is simple and only takes a minute or two for each person. Once people are in the meeting, zoom automatically switches between devices depending on who is actively speaking which is convenient and simple for everyone involved. However, if you would prefer to not have your voice distorted by the app’s automatic voice controls, you can mute it regularly or take it off completely. Either way, the meeting will still be recorded using the whiteboard feature.
4. Use the Speakers on a Stick
This is an excellent feature for meetings that involve multiple people across geographical locations or time zones, as it enables each person to speak without interrupting anyone else. All you need to do is connect your phone or other device to your computer with a USB cable and then plug your headphones into that. You will be able to hear what everyone else is saying on the screen and you can quickly tell everyone what you are going to say while they are speaking so that there is no need to keep switching between speakers or record everything and then transcribe it later. You can ask others to speak up on the phone or adjust the headphone volume as you need to.
5. Add a ‘Feedback Encoder’
If you’re having trouble getting your message across to others, adding a feedback encoder may be useful. This is an interface that allows you to write a question and then get people in the meeting to vote on it. The answer options are Yes, No, Maybe or Poll, so that you don’t have to make your own decision about whether something is in favor or not. This is an excellent way of gathering information quickly and it is a convenient way of measuring opinion and decision making. You can ask questions like ‘What do you think about the new design?’ or ‘Are we ready to launch this app?’. If you don’t get enough votes on a question, then you may need to discuss the topic further before coming to a decision.
6. Use Polling
If you want to measure opinions in your meeting, polling is another great feature that will help you understand what people think without having to make your own decision about what fate awaits the topic in question. The best way to use polling is to tell everyone what you are considering doing and ask for their opinion. You can explain in advance how you will vote on the issue so that they can respond on your behalf.
7. Use a Video Recorder
People like to watch others work in meetings and if you know that someone will be working in a meeting, recording it can be beneficial to others who are watching it later since you can communicate clearly with the speaker without having to worry about interruptions or distractions. The most popular choice tends to be using a smartphone, whether an iPhone or Android phone, but there are also computers that have built-in video recorders such as the Zoom system mentioned earlier in this guide.
8. Add Acknowledgement to a Remote Speaker
In meetings, there may be many speakers and not all of them can be heard clearly by everyone. This is where it’s useful to have a visual acknowledgement feature on the screen, such as a green light that indicates they’re speaking and tells others to keep listening so that there is no confusion about whose turn it is. This way, you don’t need to interrupt them or ask them repeatedly if they’re still talking before you can respond in kind. It’s also helpful if your speaker has a headset because it ensures that the person who asked the question is heard well regardless of how far away they are from the speaker.
9. Use a Shared Screen and Webcam
It’s easy to keep up with a remote speaker who is showing everyone what they have on their screen, so this is a great way of keeping everyone in the loop. You can see live footage of your speaker and everyone else can see you too without having to play back your previous meeting. In fact, it’s not uncommon for remote participants to show their screen for as long as they are talking and this means that nobody needs to ask them the same question more than once. However, if you feel that this activity is disruptive or annoying for others, then you may need to ask them to share their screen only when they are answering questions.
10. Use A Chat System
While you can certainly cover some topics with a chat system such as Skype, it’s more convenient if the remote speaker has an integrated chat system on their computer, which will allow everyone to see what they’re doing. If they’ve chosen a webcam as well, then it really helps everyone get the right information. Chat transcripts are easy to print so that you can keep track of them and make copies if you need them for further reference later on. It’s also common for people to screenshot the screen shot they take from their chat program just to make sure they don’t forget what they were doing before a meeting or meeting adjournment.
11. Use A Shared Drawing Board
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned whiteboard to get everyone in the meeting engaged with the topic. Using a shared whiteboard is one of the simplest ways to create space for everyone to write their ideas down, and it creates an opportunity for everyone else in the meeting to ask questions and discuss things from different perspectives without interrupting each other. Make sure that you don’t block anyone’s view with your own writing or someone else’s writing, or you may find yourself trying to squeeze past them when you need to get something off your chest.
12. Leave Notes For The Next Person
If you have a meeting where there’s nothing but tasks and ideas to discuss, don’t let the next person in the meeting come in and be completely lost. Leave some notes for them so they can let everyone else know that they just need a few more details before the next step. If you don’t have extra notes available, try leaving sticky notes around the whiteboard or bulletin board on which people have put up their ideas. When you leave a note for someone else to see during their meeting, just make sure it doesn’t get covered up with other ideas that get written on later.
13. Don’t get sidetracked
Sometimes you’ll have more than one client meeting during your work day. Keep track of where your time is going by keeping a running list of your appointments. “At the end of each day, mark the number of minutes you spent with each client and fill in the totals for the week.”
14. Tie up loose ends while they’re hot!
Don’t spend time on things that can wait until tomorrow. Complete incomplete projects or tasks during your client meetings if they need to be done immediately. This will save you time by not having to work on it last minute every night or first thing in the morning.
15. Hide your laptop during meetings
Don’t have to hide your laptop and risk getting distracted during a meeting. Leave your computer at home or in the guest room if you know there are going to be a large number of people in meetings. This is especially important if you have find it harder to focus on what’s happening in the meeting and find it distracting.
This is not a comprehensive list of all that you can do when you’re hosting a remote meeting, but these ideas will help make sure that the meeting runs smoothly from start to finish by making sure that everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and how each person may be of value to the group as they plan their tasks for the day.
