Audio visual (AV) solutions for conference rooms have improved significantly over the past few years. These new technologies now empower your company with improved communication and collaboration, no matter where your employees are based.
However, many employees who are responsible for hosting video conferences, no matter what size the company, are still failing to run online meetings successfully.
An ill-planned video conference can be costly, but there are some simple tips that you can follow to ensure your online meeting is meaningful, productive and efficient for everyone that attends.
Genesis Integration has created a list of our top five tips that will help you plan your next video conference, and run it like a boss:
1 - Why are you holding a video conference?
Before you do anything else, you first need to consider why you are holding an online meeting and think about whether a video is the best format. Face-to-face meetings can sometimes be beneficial, but more often than not it’s difficult to get everyone in the same room at the same time - especially if your business hires remote workers or speaks regularly to clients.
In fact, AV technology has improved so much in recent years that when on a video conference it’s almost like you’re sitting in the room with your meeting attendees anyway. Just make sure you plan your meeting properly to ensure it goes seamlessly for everyone involved.
2 - Determine who should attend
To get the most out of any online meeting, you need to ensure that the right people attend. Think about who should be invited, what role they will play and how they will fit into the structure of the meeting.
You should also think about the number of people that will be attending. Will it be a one on one chat with a manager or will it be a presentation to an entire department? The larger the audience for more planning you will need to put into the time scheduling of your meeting, where to host it, setting a meeting agenda, finding a date that will work for everyone and dealing with any issues that need to be resolved.
3 - Ensure your equipment is working before you join
Have you ever joined a meeting where the host's microphone is off, their camera isn’t working or the meeting software is experiencing issues? The answer is yes. There’s nothing worse than joining a meeting and then taking the next 10 minutes to set up everything that should have been done 20 minutes ago.
Before joining your meeting simply take some time test everything is working. This will include setting up your camera, making sure your microphone is on, checking that you are able to share content or, if necessary, your screen, adjusting your volume and video to the correct position and double-checking all attendees have a link to the meeting.
4 - Make sure your environment is video conference ready
Are you conducting your video conference from a meeting room, boardroom, huddle room or any other office space? If so, perfect. If not, don’t worry - you’ll just need to make sure that the space you’re using is ready for a successful online meeting.
If you are hosting your video meeting from outside your office, such as your home, you’ll need to ensure there isn’t anything that could distract those on the other end of your meeting. This could include a cluttered background, a barking dog, other people talking in the room or distracting lighting.
5 - Make sure you have the right tools and technology for the job
A video conference is defined by the technology you are using. If you use outdated and fragmented technologies then it’s likely that your meeting will be clunky and frustrating for everyone involved.
If you use an AV solution that has been designed by a professional audio visual solutions provider, you’ll have all the tools needed to run a successful meeting without having to worry about something going wrong halfway through.
Need help implementing the right video conferencing solutions into your business? Genesis Integration is here to help.
We can partner with your business to create budget-friendly and easy-to-use video conferencing solutions that are uniquely planned for the specific needs of your business.
Our interfaces allow employees to launch meetings quickly, touch screen icons are designed for ease-of-use with no training required, and our technology can be integrated with existing unified communication and collaboration (UC&C) and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephone systems.
Want to learn more about how Genesis Integration can create an AV solution for the unique video conferencing needs of your organization? Contact our team of experts today. We would be more than happy to answer any questions that you have.
