Your Guide To Virtual Meeting Etiquette

The coronavirus pandemic has massively changed the way that businesses have been operating, particularly in terms of communication. Due to enforced social distancing measures, there’s been a distinct breakdown in physical communication, which can be devastating to businesses across the globe if they don’t have the correct measures put in place. With this in mind, many companies have turned to virtual meetings using video conferencing technology, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular. Businesses have found that they’ve been able to carry on with meetings almost seamlessly, with the various platforms allowing users a great deal of flexibility in the way that they connect. If you’re still just taking your first steps with video collaboration, you may be worried about following the correct etiquette and or a little confused about what you might need to be mindful of. Below, Kinly have offered their top tips on virtual meeting etiquette so that you’re able to remain professional throughout your conferences.

The Space Around You

The first thing you should consider is the location that you’ll be in when taking part in your meeting - it’s likely that the potential spaces are limited within your home, but there are a few things you can look out for if you really want to nail your background. Something with a clean, plain look is preferable, so you might want to avoid messy bedrooms and areas where the children have been playing with their toys. If you have a home office, that’s likely to be the best option for you, as you’ll probably already have a great setup to work from and there’s less chance of distractions and interruptions. 

If a home office isn’t available, the dining room is often a solid choice - these rooms have ample seating to manoeuvre around until you find the right lighting, and you’ll have the table available to rest your laptop, tablet, or desktop computer on. 

How Should You Dress 

Now, despite being at home it’s important to retain a degree of professionalism. This means dressing appropriately for the calls that you’ll be having - of course, the level of formality will depend on who you’re talking with and when. You will probably be able to get away with a more casual look that you’d opt for when in the office, but try not to dress too casually for important meetings - a simple polo or shirt should do the trick. 

Be Conscious of Sound

For those who are intending to use the built-in microphone that your laptop features, it might be worth having a few test calls to see how sensitive the mic is to sound around it so that you can address any issues before they arise in a real meeting. Built-in microphones can be very hit and miss in terms of quality, with some sounding fairly tinny or giving lots of feedback when in use. If your microphone is a culprit for this, there are a few options:

1)Invest in an external microphone - these are usually higher quality and you may be able to edit the sound levels given out to ensure you sound clear to all users.
2)Mute your microphone if you’re not talking - if you currently aren’t talking in the call, it’s good etiquette to mute your microphone. This removes distracting background noise

so that no important information goes unheard and will also help to ease frustrations that can arise when having to hear loud feedback noises.

Good Preparation

As with anything, good preparation will most likely help you to avoid most issues, so be sure to have a few test calls with coworkers or friends before any big meetings. By doing this, you’ll be able to get a good grasp of any issues such as a messy background or poor sound quality before it becomes a problem in a real meeting. Most platforms are very easy to set up, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to have a quick test run before using the service. When it does come to official meetings, try to join as early as possible so you can get introduced to everyone beforehand and iron out any technical difficulties before you start eating into the time set aside for the meeting.