Ideas for hosting Teams meetings

Ideas for hosting Teams meetings

COVID-19 is keeping you from face-to-face meetings but with Microsoft Teams being free virtual meetings are the way to go. iIt’s still important, however, to remember certain things when you’re holding Teams meetings.

Here are several tips that can help you carry out more successful and professional virtual meetings.

1. Be professional

Etiquette is the key to most meetings, and it’s no different with those of the virtual variety. Since many of you will be hosting your meeting from home, you’ve must keep the professionalism tight. This may seem somewhat obvious, but many people think they can be more informal during virtual meetings – and that isn’t always the case.

Your kids, dogs and Amazon delivery will likely interfere with your meeting at some point. Start your meeting off setting the stage by saying, “sorry in advance for any interruption or noise, I’m working from home”.

2. Be technically ready

Start the meeting 5 minutes early and give the participants someone to call if they have tech problems accessing the session.

Also, ensure that everybody invited to the meeting has the appropriate login information. Send the meeting info by email once again shortly before the meeting. If the invitees can’t actually access the meeting, the overall benefit is lost.

3. Be prepared

Preparedness is critical when it comes to professionalism and helping a meeting run smoothly. When you’re gathering the content and materials for a virtual meeting, you should be sure to remember your audience – something that’s impossible to improvise during the virtual meeting.

Close extraneous programs and windows that have nothing to do with the meeting or may be confidential. Set applications and statuses to Do Not Disturb and Tell Co-workers to hold funny business like email and chat Memes for the time you’re in the meeting

4. Engage participants

Although it may seem normal to jump right into the meeting, taking a moment to build some report and introduce participants can go a long way. This helps build relationships, which is the most important thing we can do and it makes the meeting feel less personal

While it may seem cliché, having everyone give a little information about themselves, like their favorite food, or the high point of their weekend or the thing most affecting them during the current environment could be a great icebreaker. It allows everyone to see the other participants as more than just a face on a computer screen.

5. No side conversations

Although it may be tempting to hold side conversations when you’re not the one on screen, it’s unprofessional and is often incredibly distracting. Since virtual meetings often don’t hold people’s attention as well as face-to-face meetings, the last thing you want is to distract people from the task at hand.

Teams virtual meetings are excellent assets and there are many ways to ensure that you are conducting them in a professional and interesting manner. If you’d like to take a look at Teams for conducting virtual meetings, check out our Microsoft Teams Quick Launch Offer.


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