How Many Video Meetings Is Too Many?

It may seem hard to remember, but video meetings were the exception, not the rule, not long ago. Since the normalization of remote work, video conferencing has become a way of life in the business world, and that trend is not expected to change.

The problem with this is, too many video meetings cause their own set of challenges. Without video conferencing time limits and restrictions on the number of meetings, employees may start experiencing some of the adverse effects of virtual overload. Let’s look at ways to avoid overdoing it and how your organization can decide how many video meetings are too many.

How long should video meetings be?

First off, time limits. Video conferencing allows users to engage face-to-face. This is useful for reading the other person’s visual cues and gauging their emotional responses – two necessary things for good communication.

But, to get these benefits, you don’t need to have a long meeting.

Try to limit virtual meetings to 20 or 30 minutes. If you can’t fit everything into half an hour, consider breaking up the meeting topics into smaller chunks. That way, you can focus on one topic, converse, and get back to work without draining anyone.

To help you keep meetings short, create an agenda beforehand, email it to participants so they can be ready with questions or comments, and stick to the plan. Also, let everyone know how long the meeting will be so everyone is on the same page.

How many virtual meetings are okay per week?

This depends on the job role and the need to connect with co-workers or teams to keep projects and everyday operations moving smoothly. Someone in sales may need to meet with several clients each day, while your creative teams can collaborate on an as-needed basis.

The bottom line is, keep meetings to a minimum. There are a few ways you can do this:

• Use other forms of communication. With a cloud-based unified communications solution, remote teams can just as easily jump on an audio call or chat to resolve an issue or go over a topic. This connection diversity puts the power in your employees’ hands – they can decide how to communicate and use the channel that’s most suitable for them.

• Plan ahead. If your employees tend to launch impromptu video meetings whenever an issue arises, consider planning out communications at the beginning of the week. Decide what teams can cover and when, and then set time boundaries on each scheduled video conference.

• Use tools to make meetings more concise. Let employees know that they should keep presentations short. They can use screen sharing and annotation tools to quickly cover a topic or idea and help everyone get on the same page.

Get the most out of your virtual meetings

Make it easy for your remote teams to stay engaged with the right communication tools. YeoVoice, powered by Elevate, enables users to be more mobile, more productive and share ideas and content through a single business communication system. Contact our team to learn more.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at Intermedia.