Remote Meetings Episode2:Tired Eyes Are Watching You (Clap, Clap)
I have a t-shirt it says “Hello” and has a picture of Lionel Ritchie. He has stamina and rocked that 2014 show all night long, haha. I’m on day 213 of Zoom calls and I have to say I cannot rock this show all night long. In fact, by 4:05pm (because all meetings go over and do not allow for bio or transition breaks) I’m dead spent on staring at people in boxes and being hyper stimulated by screens. This isn’t how meetings in person work! We don’t stare at each other’s faces without ever looking away when we are sitting in a room (which is probably a good thing) so why are we doing that now that we are remote? Remote working can be different from in-person working, we don’t have to try to replicate everything we did in the office at home.
So, here’s a radical idea: Let’s cut back on video calls. In a recent test, we scheduled several calls as ‘call only’. We all felt relief. And the meetings where it was most effective were ones that were 1-2 people or brainstorming, creative or problem-solving sessions. Also, if you don’t need to be typing anything, you probably don’t even need to be at your computer. Maybe take a break from that screen and take your meeting while going for a walk. This study published by the American Psychological Association calls out that walking boosts creative thinking by an average of 60%.
It feels like we should all be meeting in person which means, yes to video on ALL video calls. We’re all tired. We need a break. That’s why these two types of meetings are the best for non-video calls:
Larger attendee calls when visual content is shared
If there are more than 6 people on a call and there is content shared, no one can really see your video anyway, so why bother turning it on? When you speak, you can easily turn on your screen if that is more expected in your work culture; otherwise we as humans are more often distracted by looking at others in their boxes (or what’s happening in our self view - turn that off by the way!).
Walking Meetings - no visual content shared
Perfect for 1:1s and especially any creative topics - brainstorming, debriefing, and problem-solving. It’s important that the person you are meeting with understands that you’ll be walking during the meeting and won’t have access to a screen, so maybe ask before the meeting: “I’d like to take this call while going for a walk. Is that ok? Or will I need to be at my screen?” to avoid confusion.
Another thing that can help ease video calls is to make a team agreement about when video needs to be on and when it doesn’t. For instance, maybe all 1:1 calls can be walking meetings, unless otherwise specified, but team meetings might feel better if everyone has their video feed switched on. Also, if you haven’t revisited your team ground rules while working remotely, it might be a good time to do that (or check out our upcoming blogpost). Remote work is different, so the rules for it are probably also different.
💡Quick tip on tips: grab a notebook, word doc, spreadsheet or any other place for a list to consolidate your toolbox of meeting tricks. Copy and paste the tools above so that you can easily have an accessible toolkit to make meetings more fun and connected.