The Biggest Benefits of Virtual Meetings for Your Business

Many of you haven’t attended as many virtual meetings in the past as you have had in the past two years. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into lockdowns and people had to work remotely. Therefore, virtual meetings became the new normal for employees across the globe. At the beginning of 2020, when the world entered the first phase of lockdowns, 200 million people used Zoom every single day, whereas only 10 million people were using the platform in December 2019. Though virtual meetings have become a staple, they are not considered up to the mark as in-person meetings are. Remote forms of work are not going anywhere and that’s why companies will need to embrace these virtual meetings and try to extract the most out of them. Here are some of the biggest benefits of virtual meetings for your business.

Less Time Wasting

When it comes to virtual meetings, the logistics and the scheduling required are much less compared to in-person meetings. One doesn’t have to book a room or wonder if the room you have booked is big enough to accommodate all the invitees, in case all of them turn up. You also don’t have to worry about which employee has turned up in the office and who hasn’t.

Reaching the meeting room physically and getting prepared for a meeting takes you 10 to 15 minutes, if not more. There are a lot of things to do like finishing your lunch, dashing in the washroom, or having a quick sip of coffee before the meeting. When it’s a virtual meeting, all of these aren’t factors anymore.

Strict Agendas

Over the past two years, Zoom has been the main instrument. Employees have been witness to a new unofficial condition known as Zoom fatigue. The virtual meetings have been quite draining and this is the basic reason why a majority of the teams want to keep it short.

Microsoft has analyzed that a positive new trend has been noticed among its new remote employees. The duration of the individual meetings has shrunk. Meetings that last up to 30 minutes or less have increased by 200%, while meetings that last up to an hour or so have decreased by 11%. More efficient and shorter meetings that are straight to the point and get the job done comparatively faster are the order of the day.

Costing Flexibility

As all the meetings have been digitized, quantifying the time an organization spends on communicating and catching up has become relatively easier. This becomes important as far as billing is concerned as well as calculating the time that the workforce spends on meetings.

You can easily figure out how much time and money is being spent on meetings. If the setup has an automatic meeting tracker, you can accurately record the duration of each meeting, how many people attended the meeting, and any follow-up that needs to be done.

Directness of Communication

Since you can’t see where the employees are looking during virtual meetings, it’s hard to figure out whom they are questioning or talking to. Therefore, the only choice is to be more direct in your communication. You have to take the names of individuals whom you are trying to communicate with, to let them know you are addressing them, and to avoid confusion created by many people speaking simultaneously.

This leads to more democratic participation. This will also make sure that everyone gets the opportunity to talk. This will create a healthy culture in the company, whether the workforce is working remotely or not.

Avoiding Small Talk

Stricter agenda implies that small talk, as well as the exchange of unnecessary pleasantries, can be avoided. There is no harm in being nice. However, having a chat just to be nice is completely unnecessary, since that will consume valuable time. It’s always beneficial when the team comes up with dedicated virtual spaces to communicate.

When there is no small talk and awkward moments, you can stay focused on your work and stay on track. Meetings are never meant for team bonding or to act as substitutes for any kind of well-being policy. There is always a separate time to bond with your co-employees and build a healthy relationship. An important virtual meeting is not at all meant for all these.

The other benefits of virtual meetings are that they are easier to opt-out of and there is increased collaboration.