The Internet now makes it easier than ever for businesses to connect with people around the world. While this opens up many new avenues and opportunities, it can make communication costly if you travel regularly for face-to-face meetings, or it can be prolonged if you rely on email.
Whether you need to talk to remote employees, international customers, or vendors on the other side of the country, Skype is the business communications tool that can keep things simple and personal while saving everyone time and money.
The key to running a successful business meeting on Skype is simply being prepared. While you can’t prepare for every hiccup and glitch, there are plenty of ways you can prepare to mitigate disruptions and keep attendees engaged—here are our top tips:
pre-meeting preparation
Create a group list with everyone’s Skype ID
The first thing you need to do is make sure you have the correct Skype ID for everyone who will be attending the virtual meeting and add them all in a new group list. In this way, you can quickly and simply call everyone at once in the day.
Make it clear who is calling whom
To avoid any confusion, make it clear in your meeting invitation that you will call everyone to avoid receiving multiple calls just when the meeting is due to start.
Set start and end times (and take time zones into account)
Carefully consider your meeting time if you include people in different time zones. Set a start and end time for the meeting that you know you can realistically stick to.
Create and distribute an agenda
To avoid a stereotypical “meaningless” meeting, make sure you have an agenda drawn up before the meeting and distribute it with the invitation so everyone has time to think about the points being discussed. It’s a great idea to try to involve all the participants in the agenda to keep people alert and engaged.
arrive early
Going online early gives you time to fix any issues you or other attendees have with microphones, Wi-Fi connections, or webcams before start time to avoid wasting precious time setting up.
During the meeting
Use video if possible
While it may not always be possible for everyone to use video, it’s good to encourage it when possible. It’s much easier to keep meeting attendees engaged if everyone can see each other—not only does it make the experience more personal, but it also makes people less likely to give in to distractions.
turn off the distractions
On the subject of distractions, be sure to minimize any distractions you can by choosing a quiet room to call into the meeting and closing your emails during the session. There’s nothing more distracting than an intriguing email popping up at the bottom of your screen when you’re in the middle of a sentence.
Decide actions on the call
To prevent your meeting from becoming a lot of talking followed by little action, be sure to leave time on the call to decide what action will be taken as a result of the meeting. Once the actions have been decided, you can discuss who will be responsible for each and when they can reasonably be completed.
After the conference
Distribute notes and agreed actions
Finally, to keep everything secure and for the sake of complete clarity, it is useful to send a copy of the meeting minutes and the agreed actions to all attendees.