SPONSORED CONTENT -- (StatePoint) With many offices continuing to function remotely or hybrid style, video conferencing will remain a mainstay of the American workforce for the foreseeable future. Here’s how to ensure your meetings stay professional and productive:

Be Mindful of Limitations

Miscommunication can occur during an in-person meeting, however, there is a larger margin for error in a video call. Be mindful of the limitations of remote meetings and encourage participants to address who they are speaking to by name to avoid confusion. Consider assigning a moderator to help prevent interruptions, as well as someone to take minutes. This can ensure key takeaways are understood by all, particularly if tasks are assigned during the call.

Embrace its Benefits

While video calls do have their limitations, they also have a number of key benefits too. Features like screensharing make it easy to share presentations, data and analysis. Meetings can be also recorded for future reference or shared with colleagues who were unable to attend. And, while the mute/unmute button should never be abused, having this feature does give moderators the ability to make it clear who has the floor at any given time so that meetings stay structured.

Employ New Tech

The right technology can help ensure your staff is not overwhelmed with calls and video conferences. For example, Motiv, a mobile dashboard powered by Eturi that tracks productivity metrics for team leaders, now has a new Google Meets feature offering deeper insights specifically into meetings and calls. Is the time allocated for reoccurring meeting being used effectively or can it be optimized? Are the right team members using ad hoc meetings to brainstorm and collaborate? Who is meeting with who, when? Using this feature, CEOs, managers and team leaders can have these questions answered so they can make informed decisions. To learn more, visit motivapp.com.

Your team may be decentralized, but collaboration is just as important as ever. With the right habits and tools, you can run more effective meetings, and work productively together from afar.

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