Linked: Want People to Listen to You in Zoom Meetings? Follow These 3 Rules
The first two are important, but this last one really rang true for me:
“3. Arrive early and follow up afterward.
Ancowitz recommends logging in a bit before the meeting starts so that you can relax and check yourself and your surroundings on camera before you share your video with the group. That’s great advice and it also lets you take part in the meeting from the very beginning. Entering a video chat chat meeting when people are already conversing puts you at a bit of a disadvantage. And sometimes, before a meeting has officially begun and in particular before recording starts, other participants may share their uncensored thoughts so you could wind up gaining valuable information.Even more important, follow up in writing after the meeting. This is your chance to — briefly — remind others of important points or suggestions you made, share any new ideas or comments you may have, and suggest follow-up actions. Because people don’t always have precise memories of a meeting (especially if it was a long one), your written follow-up can influence how they remember it, giving you some power to control the narrative. Which is a great way to make sure your contributions and your good ideas don’t get forgotten.”
Two things that I want to say about this:
1. Getting there early is an opportunity to have small talk, and maybe even a laugh or two, something the we are all lacking in the work from home world, and which science is now telling us is making us feel more alone, even as we sit on video conferences on and off all day long. When we go from call to call talking business only and getting off as quickly as possible, that is Zoom fatigue. If you have a few laughs together? Totally different.
2. Also, don’t sleep on being the one to send the follow up notes, and meeting wrap ups. Yeah it’s a pain, it means you have to take notes and pay attention. You know what else it means? When the next meeting starts, you are now the keeper of the notes, and probably running the meeting to kick it off. Now you don’t have to find a way to interject politely, you have the floor. Additionally, if you are running the meeting, be aware of who is talking, and who isn’t. Who looks like they want to say something, and isn’t getting a chance. Don’t setup your screen to show you the large image of who is talking and small screens of everyone else. That only drags your attention away from the group, and the people not talking. Don’t leave them behind.
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/zoom-meetings-video-chat-how-to-make-people-listen.html
