Online conferences are a lot easier and more ideal than traditional meetings in many ways and have helped a lot of small and large businesses immensely. But despite these benefits, it is still far too easy to make silly mistakes while conferencing online, much more than it would be at an in-person meeting. At best they can cause mild embarrassment and at worse, they could negatively affect your reputation or cost you a major client. Here are four of the most common conferencing gaffes that people regularly make, usually without even realizing it, and how you can avoid them in all of your future meetings:
1. Unmuted Microphones
SkyMoguls recommends muting your microphone whenever you need to take a break, otherwise your entire team could catch …show more content…
It is easy to think you can get away with checking your e-mail, updating your social media pages, or even playing online games in the middle of the meeting when it becomes too boring. The truth is that microphones are so sensitive that they can pick up even the smallest of noises, so everybody will know if you are doing something else instead of paying attention to the meeting. Sally French said in The Wall Street Journal that even the sound of typing can be picked up. Even if you are taking meeting notes, it will be easy for people to assume you are doing something else that you shouldn’t be doing. If you need to take notes, use the traditional pen and paper method. Use a blocker to temporarily turn off your e-mail and other programmes if you have to. If you still find yourself becoming distracted, consider setting a stress ball on your desk to keep your hands occupied when you start to feel restless or bored. Many meetings can become overly long and tiresome through no fault of our own, but you should still be expected to give the meeting your full attention while it is happening. Remember, if you wouldn’t do it in the meeting room, don’t do it during an online conference …show more content…
While most are unavoidable and forgivable, you can cut down on their likelihood significantly by performing a few system checks before your call starts. Check your internet connection and that there are no system updates scheduled on your PC that could prompt an unexpected restart. Check that your webcam and microphone are working properly. If you have a video to present, see that it is still playing properly. If you are hosting the meeting, open up the programme and perform a test run with a colleague before it starts to see if anything comes up. If problems do still occur, business video conferencing solutions such as Blue Jeans will provide free technical support to help you out, but taking action yourself can still help to alleviate the need for this
1. Unmuted Microphones
SkyMoguls recommends muting your microphone whenever you need to take a break, otherwise your entire team could catch …show more content…
It is easy to think you can get away with checking your e-mail, updating your social media pages, or even playing online games in the middle of the meeting when it becomes too boring. The truth is that microphones are so sensitive that they can pick up even the smallest of noises, so everybody will know if you are doing something else instead of paying attention to the meeting. Sally French said in The Wall Street Journal that even the sound of typing can be picked up. Even if you are taking meeting notes, it will be easy for people to assume you are doing something else that you shouldn’t be doing. If you need to take notes, use the traditional pen and paper method. Use a blocker to temporarily turn off your e-mail and other programmes if you have to. If you still find yourself becoming distracted, consider setting a stress ball on your desk to keep your hands occupied when you start to feel restless or bored. Many meetings can become overly long and tiresome through no fault of our own, but you should still be expected to give the meeting your full attention while it is happening. Remember, if you wouldn’t do it in the meeting room, don’t do it during an online conference …show more content…
While most are unavoidable and forgivable, you can cut down on their likelihood significantly by performing a few system checks before your call starts. Check your internet connection and that there are no system updates scheduled on your PC that could prompt an unexpected restart. Check that your webcam and microphone are working properly. If you have a video to present, see that it is still playing properly. If you are hosting the meeting, open up the programme and perform a test run with a colleague before it starts to see if anything comes up. If problems do still occur, business video conferencing solutions such as Blue Jeans will provide free technical support to help you out, but taking action yourself can still help to alleviate the need for this