Video Conference Meetings vs. Other Meetings

• 00:04 Video conference meetings are in some ways exactly like any other meeting and
• 00:10 in some ways they are unique, they are different.
• 00:13 It's similar to other meetings in that if people are talking and
• 00:17 it's boring, you're delivering a data dump or you're not engaging,
• 00:22 it's going to be kind of a waste of time.
• 00:25 Everyone will zone out.
• 00:27 And in real life I'm sure you've seen people in meetings,
• 00:30 ignoring perhaps you or the speaker, checking cell phones.
• 00:35 Not much is happening.
• 00:37 Same thing is true for a video conferencing meeting.
• 00:40 If you don't have a clear cut focus,
• 00:42 it's really not going to be a great effective use of time.
• 00:45 It doesn't matter how good your lighting is, the camera, the bandwidth,
• 00:49 any of that is not going to matter.
• 00:51 So those things are exactly the same,
• 00:53 video conference meetings, real life meetings.
• 00:57 Now there are some things that are different.
• 01:00 In some ways, I'll level with you, it's harder to do a video
• 01:05 conference meeting because it's easier for people to be distracted.
• 01:11 It's easier for them, especially if the cameras not on them, for
• 01:16 them to be checking Facebook, reading other email,
• 01:20 looking at news, their kid walks in, a dog walks in.
• 01:24 So it's going to be easier to have your audience distracted.
• 01:28 So whether it's your meeting and you're calling in and
• 01:32 you're the lead on this meeting or if you're a participant, you have to speak.
• 01:36 Realize that attentions are scattered because now it's not just one
• 01:41 person across from you in the room where everyone can see everyone,
• 01:46 now it's just one computer screen.
• 01:48 It could be a small tablet, It could even be
• 01:51 a cell phone versus everything else in the person's field of view.
• 01:56 So that's what makes it harder to do.
• 01:59 That is also why you need to give even more thought to how you can be engaging,
• 02:05 asking people's questions, being open to questions,
• 02:09 calling on people asking for them to participate.
• 02:13 Don't just read, don't just go through your notes,
• 02:17 don't just go through your slides.
• 02:19 You're not going to have successful online meetings unless you really
• 02:23 learn to engage with people.
• 02:25 Now it's easier when it's a one on one meeting.
• 02:28 You can truly make it like a real conversation.
• 02:30 But if you're meeting with 12 colleagues or 20 other people in your industry,
• 02:36 you can't talk to every one of them one on one.
• 02:40 You've got to ask questions, engage selectively,
• 02:43 sometimes ask them to text a message, they could tweet a response to a poll.
• 02:49 There's so many ways of engaging people.
• 02:53 But the main thing you have to realize is it's your job if you're leading this
• 02:58 meeting to engage.
• 02:59 Otherwise, it's too easy to lose people.
• 03:02 And that is what's different about video conferencing.
• 03:05 That's the hard part.
• 03:06 It's not about how to look good or what camera or where do you look?
• 03:11 It's about really making sure you engage the audience.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.