I was going through PADT’s YouTube videos to gather performance metrics and noticed that a seminar we did on effective online meetings back at the start of the pandemic was still getting views. A lot has changed since we did that webinar with the Arizona Technology Council back in 2020. But a lot hasn’t.
One thing that has not changed is that we have kept our bad habits. I’ve noticed a significant increase in poor preparation, along with distracting, disruptive, or frustrating behavior, during online meetings recently. And it seems to be getting worse. I know that I personally have been slacking off a bit and have been violating the suggestions in our 2020 webinar. And also, I’ve seen some good ideas become habits with myself and others that are worth noting.
After talking it over with a few people, ironically face-to-face over pizza, we have developed a list of some new lessons we have learned, or relearned, in the past five years of meetings, webinars, and other online interactions.
Online Meeting Preparation, 2020 Style
Before we get into new lessons learned, it’s not a bad idea to go back and visit the training from 2020. First off, wow, I look young. Second, most of what is in there still holds true.
If you don’t have an hour to give this video a watch, here is a summary of the key 15 points according to CoPilot:
- Online Meetings Are Now the Norm: COVID-19 accelerated the shift—how, when, where, and why we work has changed, and so have meetings.
- Communication is a Business Tool: Meetings should always aim to further business goals—planning, solving problems, educating, or closing deals.
- Define Meeting Goals: Always enter meetings with clear objectives, state them upfront, and review them at the end.
- Know Your Role: Whether you’re leading, informing, supporting, or listening—understand your purpose in the meeting.
- Active Listening Is Key: Pay attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues. Be concise and avoid unnecessary repetition.
- Attitude Shapes Perception: Confidence, empathy, and clarity in communication often matter more than the content itself.
- Slides Should Support, Not Distract: Use visuals to emphasize key points, guide discussion, and keep attention.
- Optimize Your Setup: Invest in a good camera, lighting, and audio. Avoid using built-in laptop mics and speakers.
- Professional Appearance Matters: Dress appropriately, maintain good posture, and treat virtual meetings like in-person ones.
- Master the Tools: Familiarize yourself with the meeting platform in advance. Test new tools and practice using them.
- Run Goal-Driven Meetings: Stick to the agenda, manage time well, and wrap up with clear action items.
- Mute Etiquette Is Crucial: Be aware of your mute status. Avoid background noise and distractions.
- Encourage Participation: Use features like chat, hand-raising, and direct questions to ensure everyone is heard.
- Avoid Common Pitfalls: Don’t backlight, multitask, eat, or have distracting backgrounds. Stay focused and present.
- Practice and Improve: Record yourself, get feedback, and continuously refine your virtual presence and communication skills
Not a bad list, and all still valid except for maybe 12, which we will talk about in the next section.
Five New Lessons Learned for Online Meetings
So, how can we do better going forward? Here is what we have learned:
Lesson 1. We Still Don’t Get Mute Right
I was hoping we would stop forgetting we were on mute. We haven’t. Any meeting I go to with more than two people has someone saying “your on mute” to an attending making a very good point that no one can year. I think I try to talk on mute in one out of five meetings. I was hoping the online meeting software providers would help us out by putting a big red dot on the screen or a big red border around our image. But no, it’s still a mic with a slash that no one notices.
My suggestion is that we stop using mute. As we will discuss in the next lesson, the software is very good at getting rid of background noises that we don’t need to mute unless we are having a conversation with someone else. I recently jumped on an online meeting from the gate area at an airport, and no one could hear the people talking around me or the announcements. So just don’t mute, and you won’t talk while on mute.
Another suggestion someone made is that most online meeting applications allow you to unmute while holding down the space bar on your keyboard. If you are just jumping in now and then, get used to pressing the space bar to talk. If you are old enough, you remember walkie-talkies. Its kind of the same concept.
But the best suggestion is to get over it. Apologizing for talking while on mute is more disruptive than the act itself. We all do it, it’s part of modern business life. Move on.
Lesson 2: We Can Stop Worrying About Background Noises, Cats, and Kids
A similar issue is the disruption caused when someone on the call feels that something going on at their end is disruptive and they interrupt everyone to apologize. The list of potential infractions includes: the doorbell ringing, the gardeners running the leaf blower, dogs barking, kids peeking from the background, and my favorite, the cat walking across the camera’s view.
For the audio distraction, other people can’t hear it. The online meeting software blocks everything but the loudest dog barking. And even if the dog barks, no one cares. Don’t stop the flow to apologize and then start a discussion of what kind of dog you have and if it is a good office mate. The same goes for your kids or a cat.
We are all used to life going on around us as we work from various locations. There is no need to apologize or discuss it. In fact, doing so often derails a meeting.
Lesson 3: We Need to Turn Our Cameras On
Over time, an increasing number of people are not turning their cameras on. And this is a bad thing. There are many efficiency and financial advantages to using online meetings. However, the significant downside is that we miss out on connecting through visual interaction and, more importantly, the subtle yet important clues that facial expressions, body language, and gestures add to our communication.
One of my favorite podcasters, Mignon Fogerty, just did an interview on her Grammar Girl podcast with an expert on gestures in communication. It’s worth a listen just to understand how important gestures are, but they also talk about why you need to leave cameras on to interact more efficiently.
In addition, not having your camera on is like sitting in a meeting room with your back to the table. It says, “I’m not paying attention, and you are not worth my time.” To be present and to interact well, you need the camera on.
Lesson 4: We Should Focus More on Meeting Efficiency
Just because a meeting is an online meeting doesn’t mean it’s efficient. Yes, getting to the meeting is easier, and sharing content and collaborating are easier. But a poorly run meeting is still a poorly run meeting. The tried and true business meeting rules still apply:
- Set a clear agenda
- Define roles and responsibilities
- Start and end on time, or early if possible
- Actively encourage participation
- Make, review, and share a list of decisions made and action items
Lesson 5: We All Need to Stop Working in the Other Windows
OK, I’ll admit I’m guilty of this one. I strongly believe in the myth of multitasking, so I often try to catch up on little things while I’m on an online meeting. In fact, I’m also guilty of doing things on my phone or computer during a fact-to-face meeting. I need to stop, its wrong even if I can do both effectively.
To help me do better with this, I shut down other windows. I also make sure I can see myself on the screen so I notice when others can see me not paying attention. There really is not much of a trick to this one, we just all have to give any online meeting, and the people in it, the attention they deserve.
What’s Next in Online Meetings?
The answer to this question is the same answer that most questions receive – AI. The initial flurry of AI note takers has faded, but those tools are getting much better and I expect them to come back in full force. Also, a voice-based AI system may start showing up to meetings, kind of like having Siri or Alexa in your meeting.
The quality of both audio and video should also improve. And maybe lighting will go away as an issue. On the negative side, expect the feature bloat in the software to increase and for things to keep moving around. Everyone loved Zoom during the pandemic because it was simple enough for even the most technically challenged to use. But now it has just as many complicated features as everyone.
Even with these changes, what we learned five years ago and more recently will still hold true.
AI Usage Note:
Going forward, until AI becomes ubiquitous, we will try to add notes to the bottom of our blog posts explaining how we used AI.
- Microsoft CoPilot was used to create the summary of the 15 points in the video from 2020. We uploaded the MP4 video to CoPilot and it transcribed it, then created the 15 points. They all came out good and we didn’t have to make any changes.
- The cartoon images also came from CoPilot, except for the one for lesson 4, and the one used in the title image. Those were from Adobe Firefly using one of the CoPilot-generated images as a reference.
- CoPilot did a good job with the text, but it cut off the top on most of the images. I asked it to make the first image as a blog post title image for the topic: We Still Don’t Get Mute Right.
- Then I said keep the style the same, but use the topic… and changed the topic for the other CoPilot images.
- Firefly still doesn’t do text well, so I added the text for lesson 4 in Adobe Photoshop.
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