The frequency of real-time virtual meetings will increase, as instant and effective communication within and between companies drives the use of viable alternatives to face-to-face meetings. Escalating fuel costs, a growing emphasis on corporate social responsibility towards carbon footprint reduction, and the opportunity to save on infrastructure costs, have increased worldwide sales of virtual meeting solutions significantly; this will lead increasingly to virtual meetings encountering issues associated with culture, language and time.
Irrespective of reason, a meeting has been scheduled that involves participants in different locations meeting at the same time. Technology is available to enable this to happen effectively and your job as meeting leader is to facilitate this meeting as you would any other. However, for a multi-location meeting, there are a few aspects that you will need to manage differently to ensure a Brilliant Meeting outcome.
In Part Four we consider the measures organisations should take to encourage use of connecting technologies; issues around the best room environments and the culture within the organisation. But for now, if you are leading a virtual meeting, there are only a small number of variables in your control that can have a positive impact on these meetings.
Essentially there are four types of virtual meetings.
Video conferencing
Video conferencing (also known as VC) allows two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously.
Audio conferencing
Audio conferencing (also known as teleconferencing or voice conferencing) allows multiple individuals in different locations to connect simultaneously, through conventional telephone services or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
Data conferencing
Data conferencing is a communication session between two or more participants sharing computer data in real time with the ability to see and control each other’s computer.
Web conference
A Web conference is a method of conducting live meetings or presentations over the Internet.
Multi-location, but one leader
Regardless of how many locations are connected, there should still be only one meeting leader. One person, irrespective of where they are located, who controls the meeting, manages participation, etc.
Additional set-up time to include the testing of equipment should be scheduled into your Brilliant Virtual Meeting, and be prepared for the meeting to take longer due to necessary interactions associated with the use of the technology.
Just because the meeting is being held in two or more physical locations, does not mean that any of the ground rules or common meeting etiquettes should be suspended.
Any side conversations will be picked up by the microphones, which will be heard just as well as the main speaker’s voice in the connected locations. Likewise, any nervous or hyperactive finger-drumming on the table will come through loud and clear. One way to minimise this is to use the remote control to mute the microphones when the other location is speaking but, better still, to discourage such behaviour.
What time is it?
So you’ve encouraged the participants, by providing bagels and coffee, to arrive early for a breakfast meeting, in order to connect to your factory outside Mumbai. 7.30 a.m. your time is 1.00 p.m. in Mumbai – you are all sitting there with breakfast, whilst in Mumbai it is almost lunch time and nobody thought to provide colleagues in Mumbai with refreshments. Whilst this should have been considered as part of the planning, if there is time available, suggest they call and have someone bring refreshments into their room.
Introductions
Virtual meetings lose the benefit of pre-meeting social interaction, from exchanging greetings and pleasantries over coffee before commencing. Once everyone is present in both locations, direct participants to introduce themselves, thereby building up cohesion through social networking whilst simultaneously getting accustomed to using the technology, for speaking and listening.
Identify the speaker
When audio is the only medium being used, or when there are more than just a few people for video conferencing, the person talking should always be introduced or state their own name every time they make a fresh contribution. This way it is very clear who is talking, enabling the connected locations to address any questions correctly and also the person taking the meeting notes knows exactly who made the comment.
Body language
In a telephone conference body language is lost altogether; no visible raising of eyebrows or shrugging of shoulders. But, in dedicated telepresence rooms – top-of-the-range video conferencing installations where all the participants are clearly visible simultaneously to each other – all facial expressions and body language are seen as if in the same room. Where many participants are gathered in a room sharing one video camera and screen, it can be more difficult to see the body language of everyone. Some systems are programmed so that the camera automatically zooms in on the speaker, leaving the other participants invisible to their distant colleagues.
Where body movements would normally be used in a meeting as a silent contribution, a nod or shake of the head, thumbs up, etc., remind participants that such signals must be replaced with words.
Mother tongue
If your virtual meeting includes participants that have different first languages to each other, then encourage the use of speech that is clear, concise and spoken at a moderate pace, and void of slang or references to local issues.
Cultural differences
In a formal business setting, an Afghan man would consider it most impolite to make eye contact with a female. If the female was unaware of this, she might interpret this body language to be a result of shyness at best, or discrimination at worst, when neither is actually the case.
Whilst this is an extreme example, be aware of other cultural and religious differences that could make a difference to the way that participants interact, and ultimately endanger achievement of the desired outcomes.
Managing participation
Use round-robin questioning to get input from everyone; rather than have input from participants in one location before moving to the next, alternate between locations, and call participants by name for absolute clarity.
If there are any silences during a telephone conference, either explain to the connected locations why this is (because participants in your location are consulting technical manuals, for example), or ask this question of the other locations. Silences can be interpreted in many positive or negative ways, so clarification is always best.
Sharing content and presentations
If you want to share computer information during a video meeting it is essential to determine what data formats are supported by all the systems being connected, and prepare accordingly.
Meeting evaluation
Telephone and video meetings can be prone to misunderstandings and, given that very little training, if any, takes place in using these technologies, many participants do not feel comfortable or adequately prepared. As part of your summing-up of the meeting, use a quick round-robin to ask everyone how the experience was for them. A more thorough evaluation can be carried out later, but this will give you a good feel for the suitability of a ‘same time, different place’ meeting.