Biggest Benefits of Virtual Meetings

With technology developing at a faster rate than ever, it is no wonder that more and more aspects of business are now being done through online channels. However, last year’s special circumstances have turned virtual meetings from a nice addition to your business practices into an absolute necessity in order to keep up operations. Instead of seeing this as a nuisance, take it as an opportunity. Virtual meetings, when done well, have a multitude of benefits for your business, from saving you resources all the way to making your employees more productive. Here are some of the biggest advantages that giving ample attention to virtual meetings could bring you.

The first advantage that we must mention is just how easily accessible virtual meetings are. No matter where you are, where your employees are, and where your client or partner is, a virtual meeting can bring everyone together in a matter of seconds. This is beneficial for a number of reasons. First of all, you can continue practicing the safety measures against the pandemic to protect your employees and company. Working from home might become a new norm even after things go back to normal, in which case virtual meetings will facilitate communication in the future as well. Remote employees and even international talent can join in the discussion no matter how far they are from your headquarters. You’ll have a lot more flexibility when organizing the time and date of meetings as well since everyone can tune in from their computers with just a few clicks.

Let’s face it, a regular meeting usually takes a long time–a lot longer than it would be necessary. All of the participants need to leave their desks and work behind to move to a conference room, their workflow ruined for the day. In fact, 67% of workers say that meetings only distract them from their work. This is incredibly unproductive for your business. Virtual meetings can be a practical solution to this issue. Once you get the hang of it, organizing virtual meetings will take little time, and you can have quick meetings to discuss matters efficiently without all the delays that are usually a part of regular meetings. In addition, no one has to leave their workstation and can get back to work the moment they “leave” the meeting, wasting no time.

One of the biggest advantages of virtual meetings is how affordable they are. Even if you are using paid services or tools, the resources needed for a virtual meeting are much lower than what you would normally spend on an in-person meeting. First and foremost, forget about expensive transportation and accommodation expenses. No one will need to travel interstate, nor will you have to host guests coming over to your company. However, virtual meetings actually save you money in more inconspicuous ways, too. Since a virtual meeting is easy and quick to organize, you waste no time and resources on it. In addition, as we already mentioned, it only minimally disrupts the employees’ workflow, so your company won’t suffer due to a lack of productivity traditional meetings often bring about.

Making use of technology can truly make life easier. Virtual meetings allow you to communicate information in an effective way. For instance, screen sharing will allow you to add a visual guide to your words. But even more importantly, virtual meetings allow for a much more efficient way of sharing files than how we used to do it. You can forget about flash drives for good as you can share documents with just a click during virtual meetings. Compared to handing out printed documents at in-person meetings, this option is much faster, simpler, and more productive. Finally, if you consider the option of recording meetings, no information will be lost and even employees who could not participate in the meeting can later check what they missed.

The times when pixelated video and lagging audio were the things that characterized video chats are behind us because today, there are advanced tools at our disposal that will eliminate frustration from the equation. Be sure to make use of them as they can make the difference between successful meetings and time-wasters. For instance, high-quality audio and video are a prerequisite for an engaging meeting. In addition, tools that allow you to collaborate can make meetings even more productive, allowing participants to make changes to documents right there and then. As long as your connection is strong and you are using reliable tools, virtual meetings will be a breeze with only positive results. In this day and age, you should invest in the best technology for the future of your business.

As we mentioned, virtual meetings save you a lot of money by eliminating the necessity of traveling for work. However, this actually saves more than just money. In an era where we simply cannot neglect how our actions affect the environment, going for the greener option should be a priority. It also shows a good example. Skipping flights already does a lot in these terms. In addition, think of all the wasted items that are always a part of meetings: printed documents, flyers, food and drinks… You can forget about all of these with a virtual meeting. As we mentioned earlier, file sharing is at your disposal, so you can save your ink cartridges and paper, too.

At the end of the day, you should know that it’s not all sunshine and butterflies. Virtual meetings are both a great tool and a necessity. However, they won’t magically do the work by themselves. You need to be proactive in order to be able to reap the benefits. Study and test your tools to steer clear of tech problems, only hold meetings when they are necessary, don’t overwhelm your employees. Make sure you create a solid virtual meeting etiquette within your company so that everyone gets a word in and no information gets talked over. Make the effort and you’ll be able to take your virtual meetings to the next level.