Do you know that technical problems are bound to happen during virtual meetings? Technical problems can be caused by hardware, software bugs, network issues, and server failure.

This is why cyber security helps organizations to secure their networks, electronic devices, and private information from unlicensed access. There are concepts of cybersecurity that help organizations and individuals to protect their data which includes confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Join me as we discuss how to manage virtual meetings efficiently without technical difficulties.

What Are Virtual Meetings?

Virtual meetings can be said to be a way in which business owners communicate with her employees at different locations with the use of mobile or internet connected devices.

Virtual meetings can also be used by family members and friends. We have various social media platforms that allow video chat like WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Instagram, and many more.

Virtual meetings might be mistaken for video conferencing, in virtual meetings individuals make use of cellular data and not Wi-Fi. Virtual meetings help individuals to host and attend from anywhere.

Virtual meetings have helped many organizations to hold board meetings, organization briefings and webinars.

Top 5 Benefits Of Virtual Meetings

Virtual meetings are beneficial in the business world, below are 5 benefits of virtual meetings.

Productivity

Virtual meetings help to increase yield in every organization, the meetings start in time and individuals are able to convey every information effectively without any distraction.

This brings progress and success to the organization. In virtual meetings, distractions, interruptions are avoided.

Communication

Communication is the key factor in every business. As individuals we process information faster with video chat than audio or text.

During virtual meetings individuals will gain more information and will discuss more effectively and efficiently than they would do with audio or text.

It Saves On Travel Money

Travel time is very consuming and expensive; business owners travel a lot for business meetings and conferences, and in most cases, these communications or meetings can be established through virtual meetings.

Virtual meetings help save money that would be spent on traveling and make the business stand out.

Employee Retention 

Virtual meetings make the life of the employees comfortable.The employees have the opportunity to work from the comfort of their homes.

A wise one once said Love them before you lose them- Brad Aronson.

Sustained Competitive Advantage

When an individual or an organization consistently does better than its competitors in other fields is called Competitive Advantage.

Most organizations with this advantage create moral principles for their customers which gives them a competitive edge over other organizations.

With Virtual meetings, employees are able to create a unique environment for discussing business related matters which give them an advantage over others.

Common Technical Problems With Virtual Meetings

Here are some of the technical problems with virtual meetings:

Poor Internet Connection

In virtual meetings, a strong and good internet connection is needed to avoid distractions and reduce the duration of time spent. Most times poor internet connections make the employees get frustrated with the network glitch which brings distraction to the meeting.

Distant Time Zone

Virtual meetings have different time zones for different workers which can be very challenging. It becomes very difficult to choose a time zone that would suit every employee. Most employees will have to work at the late hours of the day which can lead to stress.

Software Glitches 

Software glitches occur in virtual meetings leading to connectivity issues, software glitches can cause audio and video problems, screen sharing issues,and many more. Software glitches can also expose security flaws such as unlicensed access to the meeting.

Distractions

In virtual meetings, employees join the meeting from different locations which can lead to distraction due to the noise from people in the room or building. If the virtual meeting doesn’t have noise cancellation features it would distract employees from concentrating in the meeting.

Power Outage

When there is an interruption of power supply in virtual meetings, the devices used such as laptops, desktop computers will shut down leading to disruption in the meeting.

Most employees experience power outages which makes them lose focus in the meetings. This also affects the internet connection of the employees systems.

How To Successfully Manage Virtual Meetings

See the important tips on how to manage your virtual meetings.

Make Proper Pre-meeting Preparation

Proper pre-meeting preparation helps organizations to know the purpose of their meeting and the tasks they want to accomplish during the meeting.

A proper agenda should be made whereby the topics that are to be discussed should be listed and each time should be addressed to every employee in that meeting.

A wise man once said, If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Test Hardware Or Equipment Beforehand

You have to test the hardware and every other piece of equipment before the meeting begins, when you test the hardware you can easily detect if there is any issue that needs to be resolved before the meeting starts.

Having a backup plan is also important so that when slight glitches occur you can quickly switch to that and it will help to save time.

Select The Right Meeting Channel

For you to select the right meeting channel, the organization needs to know the number of employees that will join the meeting and the issues that will be discussed.

The organization has to be able to identify and evaluate different channels to pick the best channel that will be used for the meeting.

A test meeting can be conducted with an employee or a team member to familiarize yourself with the platform’s features and ensure that everything functions as expected.

Ensure A Stable Internet Connection

A stable internet connection is very important in a virtual meeting. We discussed earlier that poor internet connection can bring about distraction and increase the time spent in a meeting.

Before the meeting starts you can test your internet connection to ensure it is working properly and without any interference.

Manage Meeting Time Properly

Time management is a basic factor in every organization. Every organization needs to set a time goal and an objective for the meeting.

Employees can know the briefing of the topics before the meeting begins, this also helps to save time.

To save time, tools like timers or countdown clocks can be used to know how much time is used for each topic in the meeting.

Engage Participants Actively

You can start the meeting by welcoming the participants, participants can be encouraged to give a brief introduction to make them feel comfortable in the meeting.

Organizations can also use interactive features such as polls, boxes and many more. These participants can use these tools to ask questions about the topics and can make their own contributions to the meeting. Organizations can also use visual information like slides to support their topics.

Conclusion

Planning and preparation are very important for a virtual meeting to be successful. It helps organizations to have a clear vision and plan.

A wise saying goes thus; Giving employees great autonomy and flexibility allows people to feel independent and empowered while still feeling like a part of something bigger. This leads to a happy, loyal employee with a rich quality of life, which in turn leads to an amazing future.