Virtual Meeting Masterclass

We're on virtual meetings all the time - here's how to make them awesome

There’s no getting away from it - virtual meetings are now integral to our working day. Even if you’re fully office-based, there’s absolutely no getting away from Zoom, Teams, Huddles or Google Meet. And as with anything around the office, we assistants will be expected to know how every platform works and how to fix every single thing that could possibly go wrong with it.

In this edition of The Extra Wrap, I’m going to walk you through a whole host of tips and tricks to make the most of your online meetings. Whether you’ve quickly Huddled with a colleague to ask them a question, or you’re setting up a Town Hall for your entire company; I’ve got you covered! You’ll also find some helpful advice if you are joining an online interview, or you or your exec are attending a really important meeting.

Understand the Platform

As you’ll probably know by now - not all virtual meeting platforms were created equally. The sharing buttons are in different places; some allow the host to mute the participants; the camera angles are (for a reason unknown to me) different on different platforms.

So for these reasons, if you’re hosting something high profile, it’s ALWAYS a good idea to test it beforehand. Test as though you are a host, and also as if you are an attendee. This also gives Zoom the option to perform is regular system updates which seem to appear out of nowhere (of course, only when you’re about to join a call because people don’t turn Zoom on outside of calls!!).

Pre-Meeting Prep