Enhancing Virtual Meetings

 Can you believe that we’re about to close our second year of the pandemic? Though a lot of society has transitioned back into in person events and schooling, much of the business sector remains virtual. So how can we enhance our corporate virtual meetings as we move into 2022, to make them more productive? 

Nora Tobin, Executive and Performance Enhancement Coach to Fortune 100 companies, nutrition specialist and CEO of Nora’s Naturals Coffee, lists her top tips on how organizations can breathe life back into their virtual meetings and events for this new year.

“While employers continue to seek new ways of keeping their teams motivated and engaged in a virtual setting, there are a few strategies that can reinvigorate motivation and energy in any virtual meeting or event,” says Nora Tobin.

Tip #1: Active Listening
Just as much as you value your time, your employees value their time as well. And this is bigger than simply managing a work/ life balance. It can be broken down into being listened to and heard during meetings while at work. Don’t have meetings just to have meetings, where all your employees do is listen. Have a plan, involve them in that plan, ask for input and then actually implement it. Keep in mind that your employees are your first clients and should be treated as such. 

Tip #2: Provide Time to Catch Up / Mingle
We’re about to start year three of the pandemic (which is crazy to even think about) and most of us are yearning for social interactions that are outside of our households and the grocery store. Set a side 5 or 10 minutes before diving into the agenda to allow your employees to mingle. Babies are still being born, kids are still graduating from college and every single life event in between is still happening. Give them the space and time to brag a little, and to build comradery amongst one another. 

Tip #3: Don’t Forget Movement 
It’ll be a little cheesy at first, trust me, but get your employees up and moving. It should be something quick and easy between 2 and 3 minutes in length. Breathing exercises where you raise and lower arms in sync with each breath are by far the most popular. However, some employees might opt for burpees and squats! You can have your employees do this privately or as a group, which the latter is what I recommend. Not only does this give a quick mental break from work, you typically also get a few laughs as folks realize that they should start using the exercise ball they bought back during lockdown!