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7 tips on holding virtual meetings and conferences

7 tips on holding virtual meetings and conferences

13 April 2021

Top tips on hosting virtual meetings and conferences

During these uncertain times, we are creating new ‘norms’ to function in, especially in business. While face-to-face meetings can only take place if they are essential, a lot of companies are using technology such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams to conduct meetings and conferences.

Technology is always great until it decides to be difficult, so our hotel’s meeting experts have come up with 7 top tips on holding effective virtual meetings and conferences!

  1. Be organised and schedule the meeting in advance – this means you can send an invitation out to the appropriate people with plenty of notice. This should include date, time and a link to the meeting, and can include key topics you’d like to cover as this will give people time to prepare.
  2. Make a concise agenda – this helps you make sure you focus on the important things and don’t go too much off topic, especially if your time is tight!
  3. It is up to you if you allow interaction during the meeting or if you ask people to make note of any questions to be saved for the end. But make sure you put time aside to acknowledge anything that may come up.
  4. Make sure you allow enough time/a certain amount of time for each topic on your agenda as this gives everyone enough time to talk and you won’t run over schedule. You can also come up with a strategy to make sure everyone is heard – for example, taking turns to talk etc.
  5. Keep the team engaged – ideally, keep your meeting short and sweet or you might lose their attention. If you are holding a longer meeting, using a clear agenda (as we mentioned above) will help too.
  6. Share visuals if possible through screen-sharing – this will optimise learning and keep everyone engaged.
  7. Follow-up the meeting with an email with key takeaway points and action plans that are agreed upon.

Try out some of these tips and see if they work for you!