An online board meeting is a video conference that includes remote attendees. The goal of virtual meetings is to make it more accessible to people who aren’t able to attend in person due to work obligations, health concerns or time limitations.
The ability to take part remotely can bring a variety of advantages, including saving money on https://justboardroom.com/basics-of-board-minutes/ travel costs and reducing lost time due to scheduling conflicts. There are however some key differences between an in-person and a virtual meeting that can influence the effectiveness of the discussion.
If you’re not with others, it might be difficult to read the body language and facial expressions. This can decrease the level of engagement in an online meeting, particularly in the case where board members aren’t familiar with the technology or have issues using it.
One solution is to use a whiteboard-like feature of the boardroom software to encourage participants to take part and collaborate. Recording the meeting is a different method to allow those board members who are unable to attend the meeting to look over the minutes later. Recordings can also be helpful to be shared with new board members.
To ensure that everyone can be heard and clearly seen during a virtual meeting, it’s important to run a technology test prior to the call beginning. Examining things like updates to software on computers, camera quality and the settings for microphones can help to avoid any issues that might occur during the meeting. Asking each participant to muffle themselves when they’re not speaking can help to reduce background noises and distractions.