According to a 2018 survey by Statista, around 45% of participants said that they spend up to half of their working time in meetings. So if such a large part of working time is reserved for meetings, they are also given a lot of importance. This makes it all the more important to know what options are available in the world of meetings and what all needs to be considered.

Identifying the right meeting rhythm

Let’s first look at the meeting rhythm. Meetings can be one-off and recurring. The decision for one of the two variants depends on the respective goal of the meeting.

One-off meetings are usually held to discuss or present a specific and currently topical issue. After it has taken place, this topic is concluded or can result in the use of regular meetings.

Regular meetings are meetings that recur at a certain interval. Depending on the purpose, the frequency can usually be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Further gradations are also possible, as long as a certain interval is observed.

Daily meetings are usually associated with the SCRUM method, where they take the form of Daily Stand Up Meetings. However, the logic of Daily SCRUM Meetings can also be used in any other case without using the whole SCRUM method itself. Outside of SCRUM, the name Daily Huddle is also commonly used. The purpose of this is for a team to exchange information in a few minutes about what progress has been made, what needs to be done next and where challenges or obstacles may need to be overcome. Even though these meetings usually take place in the morning, the time should be chosen so that it is convenient for each team member. Especially in international constellations with different time zones, pay attention to this.

Choosing the right meeting location

Due to current events, the meeting location is probably the focus of most attention and the cause of the most diverse discussions. We are talking about online and offline meetings, whereby the current focus is mainly on virtual meetings.
In offline meetings, the participants are present together in one place or room, thus physically and ideally also mentally present. Since a face-to-face meeting of this kind can never be replaced, every important or critical topic should be discussed or presented in this way if possible.
Online meetings take place in a virtual room with the help of various tools, such as Microsoft Teams. The participants dial in at a certain time, join the virtual room, communicate via loudspeaker and microphone and, at best, with video transmission. The prerequisites for this are, as logical as they may seem, a stable internet connection, a computer or other mobile device, a headset or similar and a camera. Especially nowadays, it is all the more striking that these prerequisites are not a matter of course for working from home or doing home schooling. Once everything necessary is in place and up and running, the first obstacles are out of the way and the benefits can be reaped.
The availability of online meetings has made it possible for international teams to talk and see each other at any time without expensive business travel. From anywhere in the world, regardless of country or workplace, people can discuss, present, work on solutions or create ideas on a wide variety of topics.
Furthermore, it should be mentioned that a mixture of online and offline meetings is also popular. It is especially used when there is a spatial separation, for example when the participants are in different countries and cities or at different locations. It is possible for some of the participants to meet in a meeting room in the shared office, while the others connect through a virtual conference.

Support through the use of tools

In both online and mixed meetings, a great deal of attention is generally paid to the tools used. Questions arise, for example, about the available or non-existent features or which tool is easier to use. There are also arguments about integration with other applications used in the company. If a company is about to make a new selection of a suitable tool for online meetings, we advise looking at the entire tool landscape, especially with regard to communication and collaboration.
Ultimately, it is not decisive from which provider on the market the tool is obtained, but rather how it supports the employees in their daily work. Therefore, one should ask oneself what else is needed for successful meetings besides the presentation slides and how this can be mapped and made available online. Platforms such as Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) offer, for example, the possibility to create new ideas together on a virtual whiteboard, to record the meeting notes centrally accessible in OneNote and to transfer decided tasks directly into the Planner.

Establishing good meeting etiquette

We have already looked at the importance of using the appropriate tools especially for online meetings. However, there is also the argument that meeting etiquette has more influence on successful meetings than the tool used. To explain this in more detail, let’s look at a less successful meeting.

The meeting invitation is sent out by email at 09:00 Monday morning with the subject “Vote on topic X”, today at 09:30 for one hour. Another e-mail follows at 09:29 with the dial-in details for an online conference. The first participants are in the virtual room punctually at 9:30 a.m., while other participants are still struggling with the technology. At 9:40 a.m., all the invited persons have managed to join and the meeting begins. The host of the meeting starts directly with his questions and demands to his colleagues. After 10 minutes, a brave participant takes the floor and asks the all-important question, “Why are we here today?”. While the host rows back and explains the background, the polite request is heard that Mr X please mute himself. At 10:35 a.m., the meeting participants realise that the meeting time has expired and the next meeting has already started, to which they urgently rush.

This or similar online but also offline meetings can take place with less than good meeting etiquette, wasting precious time and making little progress on a particular topic.
We have summarised what we consider to be the most important components of a healthy meeting in a brief etiquette guide:

• Attention to the 3 meeting phases: Preparation – Execution – Follow-up
• Timely invitation to the meeting at least one day before (better one week before)
• Complete information in the meeting invitation:
  o When?
  o Where?
  o How long?
  o Why?
  o What?
• If required, creation of an online conference and insertion in the invitation
• Reacting to the meeting invitation by accepting or cancelling it
• Arrive on time for the start of the meeting
• Checking the function of technical aids beforehand
• Use of video transmission for online meetings
• Mental presence without parallel activities
• Observe general communication rules, e.g. mute when not speaking and let other participants speak out

Conclusion

Does the thesis that online meetings are very different from face-to-face meetings stand up? On closer examination, these two variants have more in common than might be assumed. It also seems reasonable to assume that many of the difficulties that occur in virtual meetings also occur in offline meetings. So, in the same vein, this means that the way we conduct meetings is considered successful or unsuccessful regardless of the type. A successful meeting is largely independent of type, location, rhythm or tools. Etiquette and interpersonal interaction have the greater influence.
In the second part of our series of articles, we will take a closer look at the three phases of a successful meeting: preparation – implementation – follow-up.