It’s your first virtual meeting and you’re a little nervous. You’ve prepared as carefully as you can. You’ve got your notes all ready. You’ve gone to the bathroom. You’ve posted the “in a meeting” sign on the conference room door. Your coffee is at the ready. Maybe a little soothing background music will help.
Wrong!
It’s not that the music won’t soothe you. It’s just that in an audio conference, it will be picked up and broadcast to everyone else at the meeting. And if others have had the same thought, just imagine the noise!
Ambient noise. Somehow it doesn’t seem to be as much of a problem at an in-person meeting. Maybe that’s because everyone there is hearing the same thing. We’ve become very good at filtering out the noises from our own surroundings. But it’s just not as easy to do that in a virtual meeting. Too many backgrounds make for too much noise.
Show a little common courtesy and silence your background as far as you are able. Turn off the radio. Close the door. Turn the ringer of your phone off. Let your coworkers know that you can’t be disturbed for the next little while.
If you think you might need to step away from a teleconference and put your phone on hold, be sure it doesn’t play music or offer a range of suggestions for everyone to hear. Most teleconferencing systems have their own hold button. Know what it is and how to use it.
On your end of things, noise can also be a problem. If your coworkers are working quietly in their cubicles and you’re teleconferencing in yours, you’ll disturb their concentration. Book a conference room or empty office for the length of the meeting.
Some virtual meeting software has a time delay. Web conferencing, in particular, can slow down the conversation. Be aware that this is common. Say your piece, then relax and allow a couple of seconds for the people at the other end to hear and respond.
Shouting “What!” repeatedly into your computer because you’re afraid you’ve been cut off or that people aren’t speaking up quickly enough is just not helpful.
It can take a bit of time and practice to get used to attending virtual meetings. Being aware of how the software works will help you to avoid the embarrassment of annoying others.
{ 0 comments… add one now }