No more Zoom fatigue: how to make team meetings more effective
29 Nov 2021
Between zoom fatigue, time-crunched colleagues and finding face-to-face time, good meetings aren’t always easy. Here’s how to plan a more meaningful session.
Good team meetings today can be difficult to pull off successfully. Between zoom fatigue, time-crunched colleagues and finding precious face-to-face time, learning how to conduct effective meetings within the new hybrid ways of working involves some mindset shifts. Here’s how to plan more purposeful sessions that set the scene for collaboration, good ideas and meaningful engagement with colleagues and clients.
Know your audience
First impressions count: if you’re pitching to a high-value client, do you want to be surrounded by distracting or flashy decor, or invite them into a sophisticated space? Ensure you’ve booked a space that accommodates all of your participants according to current social distancing guidelines, and allows people to feel comfortable. At Csuites, creating a calming, welcoming ambience is important: from the moment guests arrive, they’ll enjoy a neutral, minimalist colour palette that extends throughout the communal areas, meeting spaces and private offices. Ample greenery within and views of lush greenery add to the soothing atmosphere.
Using tech? Make it seamless
Download screen-sharing apps beforehand, test your presentation and get comfortable with navigating mirrored screens. Good virtual meeting etiquette is crucial. If you’re running a hybrid meeting with participants in the room and online, be cognisant that those joining remotely can feel excluded: use the tech available to you such as cameras that will give a view of everyone in the room.
Csuites equips its meeting rooms with wireless tech that helps you achieve this effortlessly. Facial recognition software automatically focuses on the main speaker and eliminates the need to manually adjust the camera throughout the session— which can be a major distraction to keep up with. It also enables control over ambient lighting and adjusts curtains to reduce glare throughout the day, to reduce eye strain and create the most comfortable session possible.
Don’t forget to Introduce interactivity – thoughtfully. Draw on apps that allow for live polls and the creation of word clouds as ice breakers, and to facilitate brainstorming and the sharing of opinions in real time. This also allows those joining remotely, and more introverted personalities to contribute in a way that’s comfortable to them.
Forget the meeting room altogether
Our meeting rooms are inviting, and even built for standing meetings because we know they enhance productivity. But Csuites has created multiple settings for teams to get together: the flexible work space has been designed with plenty of different spots to huddle, work and have meetings.
Consider taking your meeting in the in-house cafe or gather in one of the calming communal spaces – if a presentation is on the agenda or you’re having a more casual lunch-and-learn, get together at the Podium: Csuites’ public arena. Meeting areas are all placed adjacent to communal or outdoor spaces, so you can opt for a walk and talk: research from Stanford University has found that walking meetings have a positive effect beyond physical health and can boost creative thinking by 81 to 100 percent 1. The PLQ precinct surrounding Csuites has been designed with pleasant pathways and trails for this very purpose.
Versatility makes all the difference
Meeting fatigue is real – for the presenter and participants, and especially for those joining online. Consider the cognitive load for those joining. If you’re wondering how to engage employees in meetings that involve plenty of strategic brainstorming or decision-making, consider ways to use the space in different ways to allow for both focus and moments to refresh and reset.
Csuites was intentionally designed for versatility: adjoining meeting rooms allow users to reconfigure the space, so you can host a meeting in one space and move to the next room for breaks where a beverage and snack station await. The entire work space is also thoughtfully designed for guests with mobility challenges with spacious corridors free of physical barriers, touch-free access and inclusive facilities, so that the space is welcoming and accommodates every need.
See how a thoughtfully designed space can help you run more meaningful meetings and visit us at Csuites.
1 Oppezzo, M., Schwartz, D. (2014). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition © 2014 American Psychological Association, Vol. 40, No. 4, 1142–1152 Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xlm-a0036577.pdf