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2020.07.23

Online Meeting Etiquette For Attendees

At its best, technology in the workplace should be used to streamline processes and make information more accessible to teams and team members. It should also help people stay focused on what’s important. On March 12, 2020, the Governor issued an Executive Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law.

remote meeting rules

A remote meeting guideline provides guidance on how to succeed here. It’s a collection of rules and best practices on how to run effective virtual meetings. If your governance specifically allows for virtual or remote board meetings, you can move forward. If it does not specifically mention virtual board meetings, you’ll want to first speak with your board chair and legal counsel to understand any ambiguous rules. If you’re struggling to meet quorum, virtual board meetings might just be your catchall solution!

Dont Neglect The Meeting Agenda

Having a bowl of cereal on your desk, a bunch of clothes hanging on your chair, and some unfolded blankets in the background screams ‘unprofessional’. You may be asking yourself how to do a work-related videoconference from home without looking unprofessional. Remember, your board members serve your organization https://globalcloudteam.com/ because you value their insights. Remote members will be much more likely to stay engaged and involved if you make a proactive effort to include them. If they’re left to be passive observers, they’ll likely tune out altogether. There’s no reason why a remote board can’t be a tight-knit board!

remote meeting rules

In addition, for a meeting to be truly open to the public, we have determined that it must be held at a location that is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The meeting space must be sufficiently large to accommodate anticipated crowds, and a public body must make reasonable efforts to accommodate unexpectedly large turnouts. The only way to fully enhance governance is by supplying your board with leading-edge tools for decision-making and record-keeping.

Online Meeting Etiquette Tips Everyone Should Follow

The Division of Open Government reminds public bodies that all other provisions of the the Open Meeting Law and regulations remain in effect. For example, notice of all meetings of public bodies must be posted at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting, not including Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. In lieu of a meeting “location,” the meeting notice must included specific information on how the public may access a meeting that is being held remotely.

remote meeting rules

Some corporations and mission-driven organizations that allow call-ins report that in-person attendance drops. This can directly impact the dynamic of the group if people get into the routine of phoning in. The option to go remote for any type of organization’s board—whether mission-driven or for-profit—can help to optimize the experience for everyone involved. Attendees MUST join Zoom to participate; the Zoom link is unique to meeting. The Zoom link can be found on the agenda for the meeting.

Staying on mute unless you have something to say lowers the fidelity of the conversation. Even picking up on a quick laugh or “mmhmm” is helpful to whoever is talking. The exception to showing up early is if you are joining as a guest on someone else’s platform. Start logging in 1-2 minutes early in case you run into issues with a new platform or installing software.

(Unless it’s a joke the whole team agrees on, in which case we approve). If you and a remote attendee spoke at the same time, always allow the other person to go first. If you’ve ever been the leader, you know how hard it is to stay focused and keep folks engaged.

Virtual Meeting Etiquette Tips For Your Next Zoom Call

Make sure you are camera-ready for a video conference, even when it is not formally specified. Even if the rest of the room is a complete disaster, clean the area that your camera will see so that your background looks as professional as possible. Leaving and returning to the meeting this way is much less distracting to the other participants and provides a more seamless transition than walking out of the frame and back into it again with your camera still running.

This looks something like a meeting where you state the problem, comment about why it’s a problem, lament the fact that it is a problem and move on to the next problem. So take the tips below and expect to personalize and change them according to what you and your team need. One size definitely does not fit all in remote work environments.

Closing Thoughts On Virtual Meeting Etiquette

Don’t start a side conversation with someone else in the room where no remote team members can hear it. This is bad online meeting etiquette in any situation. If you get invited to a meeting without an agenda, it is good virtual meeting etiquette to push back and ask for one. Being forced to go to meetings without a plan is like someone stealing your chair. Time is the most precious resource in a digital workplace.

  • In this article, we offer tips to help you display the most professional image possible — whether you’re the host or an attendee — so everyone gets the most out of the virtual meeting.
  • Once the remote meeting is over, follow up on a specific list of action items and deliverables that were discussed during the meeting.
  • But just because no one will ever see your knees again doesn’t mean there isn’t proper virtual meeting etiquette.
  • It’s much tougher to enforce ground rules that seem unreasonable or unnecessary to most people on the call.
  • Not having a clear purpose for each attendee is the quickest way to kill team engagement.
  • At least one attendee should jot down the important points being discussed during the meeting.

Ensure all meeting participants have the meeting invitation link and materials in advance of the meeting. If you have to leave the meeting suddenly, make sure you bid adieu to whom it’s due. Respectfully inform the meeting host both in the chatbox (for everyone’s knowledge too) and through a direct text message .

Dress Appropriately For The Video

Mitigate security vulnerabilities further by ensuring your virtual board meeting software and any other third-party software is fully secure so transmitted information will stay protected. Your platform should employ Secure Sockets Layer ​certification to encrypt all browser data. Further, administrators should be able to control which users have access to various pieces of content. It is the facilitator’s job to lead the meeting and make sure everyone feels invited to contribute. As the guide, it also falls on you to encourage attendees to practice good virtual meeting etiquette.

Use of equipment necessary to photograph, record or broadcast is permitted without notice to or express permission from the public body or those in attendance at the meeting. There is no privacy interest in statements made during public portions of meetings of public bodies. Distaste or embarrassment shall not constitute a basis for prohibiting or limiting the photographing, recording or broadcasting of those present at a meeting. We adopt these guidelines in order to provide direction concerning the procedures by which public meetings of this public body may be photographed, recorded and broadcast. Committee staff prepares written advisory opinions in response to particular sets of facts and circumstances. The public has the right to attend meetings of public bodies, listen to debate and watch the decision-making process.

A trustee who intends to make a motion may interrupt a speaker by unmuting and requesting to make a motion, and shall thereafter wait a reasonable time for the Chair’s instructions before making the motion. Please use our chat feature located on every page to contact us directly. As Thomas’ daughter, Lindsey was introduced to the world of sales and marketing at an early age.

The Benefits Of Virtual Board Meetings

However, you should also avoid being tempted to switch tabs and move on to other activities or just look at your phone. If there is something that we should discuss with one of the team members and it does not affect the others, do it very briefly or arrange a separate meeting with that person. Finally, test the light settings and see what works best on a webcam. Remember, bright lighting will help others see you better whereas if you’re sitting in front of a light source, they’ll see your silhouette.

If there are multiple participants, people tend to talk at the same time – making conversations extremely difficult to understand. Try to speak one at a time so that we can follow your point in its entirety. Take a few minutes to throw on a clean shirt and brush your hair. The best part of actually getting ready while working remotely is that you’ll put yourself in the right headspace to be productive. If there is only one camera, don’t lean out of the picture.

Consider adding a ritual or ceremony to your team meetings, like a fun way to start or end a remote meeting. For example, everyone might begin the meeting by saying what they can see out their window every day. This works best for geographically distributed teams, where one person is looking at snow and another at a palm tree.

Close out any tabs that aren’t essential to the meeting. Giving everyone a job allows them to take an active role in the meeting and makes them feel like part of the action, instead of forcing people to be passive listeners—which, we can all attest, is boring and tedious. Ideally, each team member’s job is something they need to do over the duration of the meeting so that they’re engaged from start to finish, rather than being assigned a “one and done” task. If the job is too complex, your team may spend more time trying to figure out what to do than actually participating in the meeting.

We invite you to adapt this set of guidelines for each unique situation. Just like speaking simultaneously with the remote team members during a virtual meeting is considered rude, so is having too much noise in the background. The online meeting should allow its participants to stay focused on the task at hand and not what’s going on in a drama that’s blasting from your TV, for example. This can be very distracting to other participants on the call and annoy. If your cat’s meowing and playing in the background, others won’t be able to hear the person who is speaking. An essential part of virtual meeting etiquette is to turn on the microphone only when you need to talk.

Refer to this simple guide on virtual meeting etiquette and be your best virtually-professional self in all your remote work meetings. A meeting agenda outlines exactly what the meeting will cover and often allots a specific amount of time for each topic or meeting point. Plus, it allows meeting attendees to prepare for the meeting so they feel comfortable remote meeting and ready to participate. There are a variety of remote meeting software options to choose from, both free and paid. Remote meeting software providers like Zoom, make it easy to set up your meeting so remote attendees can participate. Research and compare your options to see which ones will work best for you and your remote team members.

Choose your location wisely and test the lighting, noise levels, and background visuals before you sign in. As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread, few industries remain unscathed – and virtual meetings have become an essential part of how modern businesses maintain productivity and continuity. They’re an easy, cost-effective way to align multiple offices, keep remote employees engaged and work with clients and vendors.

Sticking to these basic etiquettes is important to thrive in today’s remote work culture. One of the most commonly used features of video conferencing tools is the ability to share your screen. Be it a presentation, product demo, troubleshooting, or working document, make sure to check with the attendees if your screen is visible to all of them before you begin discussing what’s on your screen. In person, you may be able to quickly interject or slide in a comment that doesn’t disrupt conversation. But due to internet lag and the difficulty of mixed audio sources, it’s nearly impossible to understand people talking over each other in a virtual meeting. Even with how far technology has come the past decades, we’re still not immune to poor bandwidth and audio quality issues.

Refresh your mind and body with sufficient rest and get your energy up to the mark for maximum focus and productivity. One way to do this correctly is by placing the camera as close to the screen as possible. If you think you are not making any sound by being quiet while someone else is speaking, you are wrong. Send an invitation to the participants’ calendar well in advance and make sure that everyone confirms whether or not they will be able to attend.

The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Send a message in the chat when you have to step away so participation is properly recorded in the minutes. Raise your hand or send a message in the chat to indicate that you have input or a question. Test your Wi-Fi connection as well as video and audio equipment prior to joining the call. This way, you can be sure all relevant topics are covered. Plus, this is a fantastic way to boost board member engagement from the get-go as they feel as if their opinions are being heard.