Connecting with colleagues, partners and clients over video is fast becoming a necessity to achieve your business objectives. When executed effectively, video meetings can enhance productivity, facilitate meaningful connections and even bring laughter and fun to your work environment.

Here are a few tips and tricks to optimize your video meetings and drive desired results.

Pre‑meeting set-up

• Include the agenda and attendee names in the invitation
  Create invitations that include the meeting agenda, names of attendees and clear outcomes and decisions to be addressed during the meeting. This will ground participants, giving everyone time to prepare and stay on topic.
  
  
• Make sure your video set-up and attire show professionalism
  While it’s great to see so many people at ease in their home environments, it’s important to maintain a level of professionalism. To get in the right mindset for work, experts recommend you clear your workspace, change out of those well‑worn pajamas and into business attire. Check that your background is unobstructed, raise the camera to a 45° angle (most flattering), position yourself in the centre of the frame, and try to find natural light.
  
  
• Test your equipment, connection and screen sharing
  Test, test and test again! You can have the best presentation and the most compelling offer, but if you can’t connect, be seen or be heard, it won’t matter. Always test your Internet connection and equipment, as well as review what you will be sharing on screen. If you use two monitors, make sure that speaking notes and confidential information do not appear in the shared window. You may also want to disable notifications from your email or instant messaging. And of course, test your audio to ensure there is no background noise and that your microphone is properly placed below your chin to eliminate the sounds of breathing. Noise-reducing headsets are a great option.
  
  
• Ensure your meetings are secure
  Do not forget to keep your video sessions secure. A simple option is to use an entry or exit tone (or announce name) so it’s obvious when people join. A meeting password is also a good option, but be sure to send it separately from the meeting invite. Also, if your tool allows, have people queue up in a personal room or ‘lobby’ so you can admit invited attendees, including individual admission after the meeting is locked.

During the meeting

• Start with an informal chat, before sharing your presentation
  As the organizer of the meeting, take a few minutes at the beginning of each call to connect with participants. Evidence shows that creativity and recharging occur during coffee runs and other ad hoc office breaks, so having a short chat can actually lead to a more productive working session. If time permits, offer up a personal story – opening up the floor for others to share their experiences. And try to avoid starting the meeting with the presentation on the screen, as it’s more impactful to see the attendees during the initial chat.
  
  
• Mention meeting tool features participants might not know about
  If you are leveraging a unique meeting tool, remind participants how to use the tool and its key features. For example, Webex Meetings and Teams have whiteboarding and sharing features that will help you collaborate in real time. Teams also lets you save everything to the shared workspace, so follow-up emails are not required.
  
  
• Focus fully on the meeting and avoid side conversations
  Avoid sidebar conversations while in a video meeting. It’s easy to spot and you will come across as distracted or worse, uninterested. Make sure you give the video meeting your undivided attention.
  
  
• Use the ‘notes’ function to highlight key information
  Take advantage of ‘notes’ functions within collaboration tools. For example, when using Webex tools such as Meetings and Teams, you can display key takeaways or action items on the screen – making it easier for everyone to follow along.
  
  
• Turn off video if necessary
  If you find that your screen freezes during a meeting, try shutting off your video camera in order to reduce bandwidth consumption.
  
  
• Stay on mute unless you are speaking
  Always mute yourself until you are ready to speak. As the moderator, you also might want to use the “mute all” function to avoid inadvertent background noise. Other participants can easily unmute themselves if they want to talk.
  
  
• Finish by outlining next steps
  Finally, make sure you end the meeting with next steps and a clear call to action.
  
  

Setting up and conducting successful video meetings requires some work, but with the right preparation, attitude, technology and supporting infrastructure, video meetings can help you collaborate in real time and strengthen connections.

For more information on video meeting technology and Bell’s full suite of collaboration solutions, go to bell.ca/collaborate.