How to run a flawless online session: An overview

You’ll find below a concentrated version of virtual meetings’ rules. Each rule is accompanied by real examples from Sessions, the all-in-one videoconferencing platform & immersive collaboration:

I. The Basics — Ground rules for the meeting to take off

1. Privacy & Security: Any material you upload in Sessions, as well as your online meeting as a whole, is kept safe and private behind cutting-edge security measures.
2. Irreproachable Audio Transmission: Nothing is possible without impeccable audio. A lack of good acoustics deems everything else irrelevant.
3. Crystal-Clear Video Presence: After audio, high video quality is the most critical aspect of an online meeting.

1. Have Everything in One Place. In Sessions, all the tools you might need are built-in or integrated into the platform to ensure you find everything in one space.
2. Curated Setup Options & Customizable Tools. In Sessions, you can tailor meetings and features to fit your needs, alongside various collaborative tools. It allows you total control over the meeting’s layout.
3. Agenda! — It’s the oil that makes everything run smoothly. Create & populate it to make sure you stay on track and on top of everything.
4. Collaborating Items & People-Centered Experiences. Sessions is a community-led, user-first platform where participants can use dedicated tools to collaborate.
5. Actionable Follow-Up Capabilities & Feedback Solutions. The meeting continues even after the video conference ends. To ensure progress, write down actionable tasks in Takeaways Sessions’ minutes tool. Ask & receive feedback in real-time.

II. Methodology

1. Have a clear purpose for the meeting, and be a steward of others’ time.
2. Be efficient (stay on track, don’t waste time in the meeting) and effective (reach the meeting’s goal & deliver tangible results: a decision, an action plan, etc.).
3. Invite only those team members whose presence is necessary.
4. Tell people what type of meeting it is, so they know what to expect or prepare if necessary.
5. Create and share the agenda. It gives people a deeper understanding of what’s expected of them & what follows.
6. Designate roles for attendees. You might need one or more assistants for the meeting to run smoothly. In Sessions, you can appoint Assistants who’ll have almost all the power as you, the Host.

1. Share only relevant information for the meeting.
2. Reiterate the reason & intent of the meeting. It can be as short as a sentence or two, but make sure not to skip this step.
3. Build trust. It’s the most important goal you have throughout the meeting.
4. Follow the agenda within the timeframe in a Collaborative manner. This is what Sessions helps you achieve. It allows you access to collaborative tools that you can adapt & add to your agenda.
5. Ask genuine questions and encourage engagement. It’s the only way to solve the issue.
6. Provide a safe space for divergent thinking. Allow and accept different perspectives. That’s the only way to grow as a team and company.
7. Collectively agree on the next steps.
8. Plan to produce accurate, measurable results & …
9. … do a meeting recap. In Sessions, it’s easy to do that with the built-in Takeaways, the tool for meeting minutes. Participants registered to Sessions will receive them via email.

1. Share results & follow up with action items.
2. Ask for feedback. Improving the effectiveness of your meeting requires knowing what worked well and what did not.

III. General Principles

1. Set milestones and agree on the ground rules for each one of them.
2. Debrief as a group.
3. Develop a team mindset that’s congruent with the ground rules.
4. Everyone is responsible for helping each other use the ground rules.
5. Discuss how you are using the ground rules and how to improve.

Conclusions