Virtual Meeting Etiquette [DOS & DON'TS]

Do you participate in a lot of virtual meetings, and wondering how you can make them more effective, well by the end of this video I'm going to give you my top tips on virtual meeting etiquette, so that your meetings can be more productive, and if you stay tuned to the end of this video, I'm gonna give you my master hack productivity checklist, to boost your productivity. Hi, if you're new here, welcome, for the best career and project management advice, subscribe to my channel, hit that Bell button, and a brand new videos gonna come to you every Wednesday, I have facilitated and participated in countless virtual meetings, and let me tell you, I have seen people make some common mistakes, over, and over again, and what I want to share with you is some virtual meeting etiquette that's gonna make your meeting more productive, and really just help everybody out on that particular call, okay, lights camera action, this is a stuff we're going to be talking about, plus some other cool things, so if you're excited,like this video, and let's get to it Lights, lighting is everything when it comes to our virtual call, it is really important that you have lights on, why, because my assumption is you have video on, you know how important it is for people to see you, so if you're sitting in a dark room, guess what, you're probably gonna be dark too, so wherever you are with your meeting, make sure lights are on, better yet, make sure you have natural light, because I promise you, it even makes you look better, and if you do have natural light, face the windows, all that natural light radiates on you, I've seen some people actually have their back to the window, which means all of that beautiful natural light is now behind them, creating a huge shadow, that's a big no-no, people can't see you, so, lights are critical, particularly with video on, have all the lights on, and if you can use natural light whenever possible, I promise you, it makes you look good. Camera, it's all about the angles on your camera, so it's really important not only the lighting, but take a look at the positioning of your camera, have you ever taken a photo of yourself, a selfie, and the camera and angle was all wrong, and was like, oh not good, maybe even you're looking up your nose, same thing with the camera on your computer, when you're doing virtual calls, so one of the things I recommend highly is, get some sort of stand for your computer, and lift it up, you want the camera to be at your I level so you're directly looking into the camera, in essence looking eye to eye, to your other people in the meeting.

Action, pass a virtual Talking Stick, so what do I mean by this when it comes to meeting etiquette, virtual meeting etiquette, well, you have great lighting, you have great camera angle, now your meeting is going and you have tons of noise behind you, the dog is barking, the doorbell rings, that drowns out, when you have someone speaking, they can't hear, the other participants can't hear what other people are saying, so there's a couple of things that you can do here, number one, in meetings, mute yourself, unless you're talking, so you have to remember that, really important, it just drowns out that background noise, and when you do have to talk and if the dog does bark, that's okay, that's called life, and other things you also want to be really respectful for, is, if you do want to have a point when someone else is talking, use a chat function, depending on your meeting, your virtual meeting software, you may even have abilities to raise your hands, things of that nature, so use that functionality in order to make sure that everybody has a turn talking, and you can actually hear what other people are saying. Stay present, okay, this is really important, because I've seen this happen so many times, yes your mic is muted, I get it, you're not talking, but it doesn't mean you can start doing the other work, doesn't mean that you should be going on your phone, and checking out texts, because guess what, people can see that, if you're in a meeting you're there for a reason, so stay present, if you can, hide your phone, put it on vibrate, don't go to it and check the text, because people can see it, you do not want to be doing other things while you're in the meeting, if you are, then the question is, why are you there, and you should be challenging the meeting facilitator if that's the case, other things too is, when you're working from home, really connect with people in your home, let them know that, hey I'm working from home, perhaps you have a Power Hour on your door for people not to come, if you're lucky enough to have a home office, or you just let them know, Shh be really, really, quiet because we have things going on, it's all good, but just make sure that you're present in the moment, and you keep people around you as well, so they understand that you need to be present too, and not to drag you away. Keep it professional, okay, you may be saying to yourself, Adriana, it's not just obvious I'm in a business meeting, of course I'm going to keep it professional, however, you will be surprised, and I've seen this happen from an etiquette perspective, some people just don't, I don't know why, maybe because they feel like they're at home, and they can do whatever they want, and particularly with video on now, it is really important to keep it even more professional, so what are some of the things you can do, check like your background, if you're gonna have a virtual meeting, and video really should be on, check out what people are looking at behind you, yes I know, some of the software has ability for you to actually put different backgrounds behind you, but I promise you, people move their heads, and then they can still see through whatever background you put through, so if you can, get a little, like a TV table, a portable table, and set it up where you're behind something that you feel very comfortable with, that's one way, another way to keep things professional is, take a look at what you're wearing, now I'm not saying you get dressed up in a suit, I'm not even saying that you fully have to go all out like you are in the office, or whatever office attire is acceptable for your organization, but guess what, don't wear your pajamas, like particularly in a virtual meeting when your camera is on, just really keep clean and neat and it's all good, the purpose is, you're in a meeting to get stuff done, just really keep it professional.