Hosting Zoom Partner Meetings

As a partnership, we have become very used to holding meetings over Zoom, Teams and Meet etc so we thought we’d share some tips based on our experience over the past 18 months. (Also useful for online peer mentoring).

Preparation

• As for any meeting, preparation is important. Not only understanding the purpose of the meeting and having any documents, e.g. the agenda, to hand but you also need to think about your physical environment .

Is your equipment – camera/mic/speaker working?

Are you familiar with the platform – do you know how to share documents for example?

Where is your computer/laptop located?

Will you be able to sit at it comfortably?  Is the camera at the right angle? 

Are you using a background or can people see behind you into your actual space?

Is it tidy and professional looking? 

You can check all this by activating your computer camera before the meeting to see what others will be seeing.

Are you dressed and groomed appropriately? We’ve all heard the horror stories!

If you share space with someone else – let them know when and where you will be online – again we’ve probably all got embarrassing tales to tell.

At the meeting

• Be punctual – try to log in a few minutes before the scheduled start time to allow for any technical issues that might arise.

• Agree a time limit for the meeting – if it is going to be long, perhaps include some breaks.

• Mute your microphone when not speaking: This can help reduce background noise and improve audio quality for everyone in the meeting.

• Stay engaged: pay attention and actively participate by asking questions and making contributions. This will help keep the meeting productive and focused.

• End the meeting properly: At the end of the meeting, make sure to wrap up any loose ends and that everyone knows what the next steps are. Then end the meeting properly by clicking “Leave “