4 Reasons to Break Up Your Huge Virtual Meetings

06.23.2020

When does a virtual meeting have too many attendees? Harvard Business Review says that virtual meetings that have more than eight attendees are less likely to result in a decision being made. If you’re hosting or attending large virtual meetings regularly expecting to get a lot accomplished, you’re likely not as productive as you want to be due to these four issues with hosting and attending huge virtual meetings. Here are four solid reasons to streamline the attendees list of your next virtual meeting.

 

It’s hard to know who’s in charge

When you have a lot of people attending a meeting, it can be hard to know who is in charge. The host might have set the meeting up, but it might not actually be their meeting, he or she might just be the organizer. It can be confusing as an attendee of a huge virtual meeting to keep track of who is talking, and can be hard to hear if you have multiple people talking over one another. Additionally, it can be easy to miss something with a lot of people in a virtual meeting because the platform you’re holding your meeting in might flip over to each person as they speak, and there might be a delay in between seeing each speaker. If you must host a really big virtual meeting, start with some ground rules about expectations and etiquette about asking and answering questions. It can be helpful to request everyone put themselves on mute while the main speaker is addressing the group, and request that attendees chat/ write their question to the host or moderator to keep the focus on the topic of the meeting and minimize screen flipping or participants talking over one another. 

 

It’s hard to give everyone an active role

When you have more than eight people in a meeting, it can be difficult to get everyone to participate, and keep everyone engaged. There are four central roles to consider recruiting someone to fill in any meeting you host:

  • The facilitator who runs the agenda
  • The presenters who “share specific units of content”
  • The timekeeper who alerts presenters on “how to adjust their speed and content”
  • The notetaker who documents the meeting

Anyone else who is in attendance is likely a participant, and you should consider how necessary it is to have these people at the meeting.

 

The bigger the meeting, the more behind the scenes texting/ chatting/ IM’ing that’s happening

According to this article from pmi.org, “One survey showed that only 23% of managers gave their full attention during conference calls, while 25% dealt with their e-mail, and 27% did other work. This level of distraction is much higher than in face-to-face meetings.” If there are a lot of people in a virtual or non-face-to-face meeting, chances are, most people are not paying attention to a single person. Therefore, it’s easier for meeting attendees to “check out” without getting caught. 

If you absolutely have to have more than eight people in your virtual meeting, and it’s not supposed to be a “town hall” style, informational/ rally style gathering, try break out sessions. Many video platforms (for example, Zoom, Adobe Connect, and Samba Live) include a “breakout” option where the leader can assign smaller group discussions within a larger group. The leader can also set a time limit for the breakouts. After the smaller group sessions are complete, the groups can come back together again and discuss what they learned or concluded.

 

Beware of having too much on your agenda

Bonnie Hagemann, co-author of “Leading with Vision” and CEO of Executive Development Associates says meetings should last 30 minutes. “Don’t linger and talk about other unproductive topics just because you have an hour blocked on your calendar,” Hagemann says. If you need more time, you can always schedule it, but train your team to get used to ending a meeting when the work is done. 

 

Virtual meetings are often necessary to solve problems, connect with team mates, and get brainstorming done. However, resist the temptation to invite everyone who could be at a meeting in an effort to be inclusive or save yourself some meeting minute writing time. Use these four common virtual meeting pitfalls as a guide to making your next virtual meeting a pleasant experience and effective use of your team’s time.