Virtual meetings are essential to help remote teams collaborate, connect and stay informed. Despite this, they can quickly turn into tedious and frustrating sessions if handled unthinkingly.
According to some research, stress and fatigue arise more quickly during a video call than when doing other type of work in front of a screen. It is also pointed out that video fatigue begins to set in after 30 to 40 minutes of a video call. This is due to the intense concentration that is required to extract relevant information without having all the non-verbal cues and information.
The good news is that it is possible to prevent this type of fatigue.
So how can you make your meetings more like a video game and, at the same time, make everyone meet the company’s goals? If you follow these tips, meetings can quickly become more fun and become part of your work culture.
Plan ahead
Like face-to-face meetings, planning is essential for holding a virtual meeting.
Give everyone a role in the meeting
Most of us know how difficult it is to remain complacent during the most boring meeting. For the person speaking, however, the experience is completely different. Their adrenaline is boosted by being in the spotlight and feeling completely committed. As such, if everyone has the opportunity to speak, they get a little adrenaline boost that helps them stay alert.
Use virtual tools
If you have a lot of information to convey, you’ll want to use different media and make changes to keep team members from losing focus. Use fun images and colorful PowerPoint slides to keep video fatigue away. Use fun virtual backgrounds appropriate to the situation (Zoom, MS Teams and any other app allow you to do so). You can find several in this collection: Funny Virtual Backgrounds.
Gamify the meeting
To keep team members engaged, your meeting needs to be informative and fun. And what’s more fun and captivating than games? For memorable meetings, choose a game or two to play during the meeting.
In conclusion,
Virtual meetings have become a necessity for all remote teams. Making your virtual meetings more fun and engaging will help you achieve greater productivity and greater employee retention and satisfaction.
