These days, virtual meetings are becoming the norm. Our team had made the shift from an office to virtual about a year ago, so we were lucky in that we were ready for the shift.
There’s some great tools available now with things like reminders built in, such as Keap Pro, Wix Bookings, and Calendly, but you can’t make your attendees show up.
So, we wanted to talk about the importance of attending virtual meetings and share some tips to help get attendees to show up.
What is a Virtual Meeting?
With a virtual meeting, employees, independent contractors and clients can attend from any device. Through Zoom, for example, you can share audio, stream video, and share your screen.
This means more opportunities to touch base and make sure that everyone is on the same page and knows what’s going on.
How Technology Can Help
In a digital world, it can sometimes seem like we’re more disconnected than ever. In any good relationship, you need communication and both sides need to be invested in order to make that happen.
We’ve seen an improvement in productivity by moving to virtual, and by scheduling standing meetings through tools like Calendly, Keap Pro and Wix bookings, we can avoid the back and forth of scheduling by email.
But how do you get people to show up?
Set an Agenda for Your Meeting
No one likes a meeting that could have been an email. Our meetings are usually < 30m, and we like to set an agenda beforehand so everyone can prepare and knows what to expect.
A typical agenda for our done-with-you programs will look something like this:
Wins for the week
Opportunities for improvement
What we’ll be working on
What we need from you
Questions & confirm next virtual meeting time
Importance of Showing up for Virtual Meetings
Another reason we like appointment setting tools is they can also send out a reminder email or text. This automates another step of needing to confirm the meeting.
BUT, we can’t make someone show up. With our done-with-you programs, we need you to be committed and attend meetings. Our goal is to help our clients accomplish their goal of getting online with consistent business through the site, but we can’t do it without them.
Respect the Process
During virtual meetings, there are key decisions that need to be made and we need information about your business.
Through our process, we try to streamline this as much as possible, so a client doesn’t have to keep resending files and info, but it does require some time and input on the client’s end.
Wrapping It Up
Treat virtual meetings as you would an in person meeting in that you wouldn’t just not show up. Respect each other’s time and if you book time to speak with someone, make sure you show up ready for the meeting.
We get that sometimes stuff comes up (especially at a time like this), but missing a meeting can impact the timeline of a project and communication.
So, if something comes up, let the host know and if it’s available, reschedule for another time through their booking link.
Pro Tip: We recommend typing up a quick summary with highlights from the virtual meeting and posting it in a project management system, or a Google Doc.
This way, you have a record that attendees can come back to if they need to refresh their memory on what was discussed, and/or what they need to be working on.
