Recommended Remote Meeting Protocol & Resources

Here is a meeting protocol that we recommend for remote meetings that incorporates both the meeting design and facilitation best practices, as well as adjustments to overcome the challenges of remote meetings. It draws from the recommendations listed above and reorganizes them into what should be done before, during and after the meeting.

Before the Meeting

Preparation is crucial for online meetings. The better you prepare for your meeting, the better it is likely to go. Here are some of our preparation suggestions.

• Include login information for the call in the calendar event and at the bottom of all emails about the meeting. (Virtual Specific)

• Send instructions to your attendees before the call. (Virtual Specific)

  • We recommend:

    • Be on time for the meeting

    • Check your tech ahead of time. Try joining the meeting 10 minutes early if you’re unfamiliar with the platform.

    • Take the online meeting in a quiet, well lit place.

    • Plan to join the meeting via video

• Be really clear on whos’ playing what role on the call ahead of time. Some roles to consider include:

  • Convener: The person who is calling the meeting and will make process decisions on the call if needed.

  • Facilitator: The person who is running the meeting.

  • Notetaker: The person taking notes

  • Tech Support: For big meetings it’s crucial to have someone on the line who is responsible for tech. Ideally, this person is not playing any other role on the call.

• Design the agenda of your meeting to promote participant engagement.

• Make sure that you have a professional background and your webcam oriented so that you can look directly into it.
  

During the Meeting

Good online meetings have a lot of similarities with good in person meetings. However, here are some of the recommendations we think are most important for online meetings specifically.

• When you open the meeting, plan to spend about 5 minutes making sure everyone’s tech is working correctly. (Virtual Specific)

  • Don’t hesitate to tell people if their video or audio is off, they may not realize.

  • Use the chat to communicate if audio isn’t working.

• Be clear with participants what is the purpose and product of the meeting. Explicitly name the facilitator and note taker as well as clarifying who has decision authority on the various topics you will discuss. Share the agenda for the meeting with participants and ask for any amendments.

• Set some ground rules for the meeting before you get started. Some that we recommend are: (Virtual Specific)

  • Keep your video and stay fully engaged

  • People who aren’t speaking should turn their mic off

  • Check in with the tech person if you have any trouble or have to step away (include how to connect with them)

  • Agree on hand signals to show agreement or enthusiasm (on an online call can often feel like you’re talking into a void). We like thumbs up, snapping fingers, and jazz hands.

• Online meetings can easily end up being one person talking while everyone else checks their email! Here are some simple tips for bringing more voices into your online meeting: (Virtual Specific)

  • Have a check in question at the top of the call.

  • When you ask if anyone has questions or comments, wait 7 seconds before moving on. It takes people a while to jump in, especially if they have to turn on their mic. It will feel super awkward, but wait anyway!

  • Consider doing a round when you ask a question on the call to give everyone a moment to share. Framing it something like this could work well- “I’d love to give everyone a chance to weigh in on this question. We’re going to do a round. Kate, would you be willing to start and then pass it to someone else? Feel free to pass if you don’t want to add anything.” If you do a round make sure you commit to finishing it so as not to leave anyone out.
    

After the Meeting

Follow up is crucial for any meeting, but in online meetings people are even more likely to drop off the call and forget everything they agreed to. We recommend the following steps to ensure work keeps moving in an online context:

• At the end of the meeting, leave at least 10 minutes to review next actions and decisions from the meeting. Ensure each next action has a name and due date attached to it.

• After the meeting, send the list of decisions and next actions via email and include a link for people to review the full meeting notes. This makes it easy for people to add next actions to their to do lists.

• After the meeting, ask your team for feedback on what they think worked well in the meeting and what they would recommend the group do differently next time. If this is a new format for you, getting feedback will help you understand the experience of your team quickly! (Virtual Specific)

Recommended Resources from your Peers

Read: The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work

Read: All Remote Meetings at Gitlab

Watch: Engineering Master Schedule (password: 8o=0j47+)