With the change in times, work from home has become the new normal around the globe. Currently, most of the organizations are working on work from home format and carrying out meetings, conferences, and interviews online in a digital space.
More and more employees are working from home as restrictions are imposed on traveling and public gatherings. Virtual events have been prevalent for a long time, but a huge inclination towards online virtual meeting services has been witnessed in the past few months. Virtual conferences, virtual conclaves, virtual AGM, remote meeting services come to aid and help businesses to connect with their clients, partners, and employees remotely without any geographical constraints.
Organizations are taking advantage of remote meeting technology to keep the business running even in the time of global crisis. Companies around the world are conducting online virtual meetings, events & conferences to connect with employees, team leaders, clients, shareholders, and global delegates residing in any corner of the world. There is no doubt to say that virtual events are here to stay.
Creating a virtual environment that suits your company’s image is a must as it delivers brand value. To make your online virtual meetings look professional you need to customize branding suiting your company’s image, run a thorough technical check for all the features to offer users a seamless experience along with the audio as well as the video quality check for any plagues and glitches.
As more and more organizations are inclined towards virtual meeting solutions with each passing day, hosting live webinars and online virtual meetings have become new normal. In this article, we have shared a few tips that will make your virtual meeting look professional and create a memorable and immersive brand experience for attendees. Let’s get started with tips to create a professional virtual environment to host meetings and conferences.
12 go-to tips to transform your online meetings into professional meetings
1. Select the best virtual meeting platforms
The worth of face to face interactions can never be beaten. But there are ample virtual meeting platforms available nowadays that offer immersive virtual meeting solutions. Go with the platform that offers interactive engagement tools that helps in keeping the audience hooked throughout the meeting. A professional virtual meeting platform delivers quality content to attendees or participants thus building a positive brand image.
2. Select a room that is quiet and softly furnished
Selecting a room that is quiet and free from any interruption is the one you should be working from. An empty room will make your sound echo, resulting in unclear audio. Select a room that is lightly furnished and carpeted as it helps in creating the perfect audio during online virtual meetings and make it look professional. Even a rug on the floor helps if the room is not carpeted as it helps in balancing the depth of the sound/audio.
3. Go with the neutral background
Select the safest option to make your virtual meeting look professional, go with the plain/neutral wall background instead of decorated walls. The white or light-colored wall works well giving your online meeting a professional touch. Remove anything distracting from the background such as wall hangings, photo frames, wall or table accessories, etc. as it diverts the attention from the content.
4. Use good lighting during online meetings
A dark room or a room with a very dim light will certainly look very unprofessional. Having a strong yet soft light on your desk to illuminate your face during a web conference makes your meeting look professional. Adjust it according to daylight conditions to create uniformity on the face.
5. Select the right device
A large number of people use smartphones to attend virtual meetings as they are handy and easy to use. To make your virtual meetings look professional, using a desktop or laptop is recommended. Using such a device ensures a stable image that cannot be met while using a smartphone. It becomes easy to take notes while you attend an online meeting via a desktop or a laptop.
6. Check for technology beforehand
To run a smooth online virtual meeting without any technical hiccups, checking up on the technology beforehand is a must to prevent any technical glitches. Test your virtual meeting platform along with the internet connection inadvance before going live for an interview, conference, or meeting.
7. Set webcam at an eye-level
During a virtual conference or meeting, people place laptops on desks that sometimes result in awkward positioning of web cameras. It results in showing up the abrupt position of the person at the other end. Make it a point to place your web camera at an eye-level as it will make your image look natural and real same as in-person meetings. Place your laptop on a box on the table to give your online meeting a more professional look.
8. Invest in a good quality microphone
Using an in-built microphone is good enough for everyday use. But when it comes to professional online meetings, external microphones give better clarity of sound and make your voice look professional. If you are not willing to invest in external microphones, using external earphones that come along with smartphones is recommended for better clarity of speech.
9. Make virtual meetings look the same as in-person meetings
To deliver the same look and same feel of in-person meetings you need to give up on furry sleepers and lazy pajamas. Dress up professionally as would dress up for attending in-person meetings. Make your attire look professional as it will make your meeting look professional and leave a huge impact in the way you interact as well as the way other people at the event engage with you.
10. Turn off notifications
Remote meeting solutions enable screen sharing that makes it easy for you to illustrate your points to the other party. Turning off notifications is recommended as you do not want other participants to know what’s going on in the background. To prevent any further distractions and pop-up sounds disable the applications or turn off the notification. Ensure doing this to make your online meeting look professional and free from any notification alerts.
11. Focus on camera while talking
Rather than looking at the image of another person on a video call, make it a point to look into the camera while hosting/attending web conferencing to make your meeting or conference look professional. Looking into the camera gives the feel that you are directly looking at the other person thus resulting in better and a stronger connection.
12. Prevent yourself from multitasking
While you are on a virtual meeting with other participants, avoid answering the emails or scrolling social media feeds as it prevents you from fully participating in the meeting and getting the valuable insights.
All set to host a virtual meeting with a client, stakeholders, business partner, or employees, keep the above points in mind to make your online meetings look professional and deliver the best value out of it.
