Microsoft Teams creates a level-playing field for working teams to engage and collaborate virtually without breaking the bank. Read along as we discuss how you can boost your productivity with the system.
1. Schedule the Meeting Accurately
Scheduling is the first step to having a meeting on Microsoft Teams. Although you can start a meeting at any time, if you want other people to join you, you need to inform them beforehand.
When setting up a meeting on Microsoft Teams, you should consider the participants’ time zones. If you are the host, you can schedule a meeting with your time zone, and it will automatically reflect the participants’ time zones on their dashboards.
To increase the turnout for your meeting, schedule it at a time that suits most participants, if not all of them. Scheduling a meeting at odd hours could hinder your team members from showing up. Even if they show up, they might not participate optimally if the timing is off.
2. Pick a Moderator
The fact that you are hosting a meeting on Microsoft Teams doesn’t mean that you must be the moderator of the meeting. One of the ways to hold a remote team meeting successfully is to appoint a moderator, especially if you have too much work on your hands already.
Entrust your moderator with the responsibility of driving the meeting’s agenda and engaging participants effectively. The moderator should keep a close eye on participants’ behaviors and ensure that no one constitutes a nuisance during the meeting. Grant the moderator adequate access and control to the meeting settings, so they can initiate commands when necessary.
3. Optimize the Online Experience
Online meetings are most productive in the right settings. Before launching a meeting, find a suitable spot and seating position. Ensure that the camera of your computer device is in good condition for great image quality. The same applies to audio. Make provision for a microphone with good audio quality. Test your camera and microphone before the meeting starts to avoid unpleasant surprises.
While most hosts prefer to sit comfortably and pass their message with a sleek portrayal, others prefer connecting with participants on a stand. Microsoft Teams offers multiple custom backgrounds for beautifying your online space.
4. Take Notes
Taking notes is one of the ways to run a productive virtual meeting. When you are processing a lot of information, there’s a tendency to miss some essential details. Since there’s only so much your brain can retain, you stand to lose vital information if you don’t take notes. That’s why note-taking is key during meetings.
You don’t need a pen and paper to take notes when having a meeting on Microsoft Teams. The tool offers a notepad where you can write and save information from a meeting. You can always go back to your notes to retrieve the key agenda of your meeting.
5. Mute Non-Speaking Participants
Noise hinders productivity in the workplace. If you don’t nip it in the bud, it could obstruct your virtual meeting too. Even when you make an effort to be in a quiet place for your meeting, other participants might not do the same. Microsoft Teams helps you get rid of noise with its mute feature.
As the host of a meeting, you can mute not just yourself, but also other participants in the meeting on Microsoft Teams. The rule is to mute non-speaking participants at all times. Doing this creates orderliness and decorum. Other participants will understand the message that a speaking participant is passing across.
6. Use the Chat Window for Emphasis
Virtual meetings have to be engaging to keep participants interested. People easily get bored with long talks, so you need to also use the chat window in Microsoft Teams to keep their attention.
As a host, you can create a chat window where you and the other participants can drop relevant comments about the meeting. It’s a good place to write key information that the participants should be aware of. The moderator can also ask the participants to drop any questions they may have in the chat window, so everyone can understand the questions clearly.
7. Record the Meeting
One mistake virtual meeting hosts make is failing to keep track of all activities. When they need to refer back to a topic, they can’t. Microsoft Teams has made the recording process easy by introducing a recording feature to grasp every tiny detail quickly.
Making references is part of a learning process, and keeping a record of every online gathering is highly beneficial. When you record your meeting on Microsoft Teams, you have concrete evidence of the meeting’s details.
8. Blur Your Background
Just like a noisy environment could cause someone else to miss the message that a speaker is passing across in an online meeting, a noisy background can also cause distractions. For instance, a beautiful painting in a participant could distract you from what they are saying. You might even forget your line of thought.
Microsoft Teams allows participants to blur their backgrounds, so they can focus on themselves and what they are discussing. With this feature, you don’t have to worry about having the perfect background for your meeting.
9. Use the Whiteboard Feature
Many users don’t utilize the whiteboard feature on Microsoft Teams to the maximum. It’s an online canvas to capture your messages and ideas in action.
The Microsoft Teams whiteboard comes in handy when you need to explain complex ideas to your team members during a meeting. It offers various sketching elements to help you express your thoughts clearly.
10. Activate Screen Sharing
Sometimes, explaining ideas and concepts to teams in a virtual meeting isn’t enough. You need to show them the information as it is on your computer device. Microsoft Teams makes this possible with its screen-sharing feature.
You get the opportunity to enhance participants’ engagement levels in your online meeting with Microsoft Teams when you activate screen sharing. It allows you to show other people what you are talking about and exactly how it is on your system.
Make Your Virtual Meetings Worthwhile With Microsoft Teams
Virtual meetings have come to stay. Working teams are making great strides in interacting with each other from their remote locations. But for that to happen, you have to be intentional about making the most of your meetings by leveraging the many features in Microsoft Teams.
If you are going to host people at a meeting, make it worthwhile by optimizing the experience. Create room for everyone to contribute and share ideas. When your team members see the value in your meetings, they will be eager to join whenever you schedule a meeting.
