“Communication works for those who work at it.” — John Powell
What is worst than call meetings ? Bad quality call meetings !
Here are 5 tips to make your meetings better
1. Make sure your internet connection is OK
2. Check your sound quality
3. Add video
4. Value of the meeting ?
5. Ask / Provide feedbacks
1. Make sure your internet connection is OK
Speedtest.net
Ping
Check latency in terminal : ping slapps.fr
Teams – monitoring
In a call – More > Settings > Call Health
Do you lose any packets ?
In a call – More > Settings > Device Settings
What is your mic picking up ?
2. Check sound quality
Teams – Test call
Settings > Devices > Make a test call
You will be able to hear how you come through
Teams – Noise reduction
Settings > Devides > Noise suppresion – Set to High
Hardware quality
Bose Quiet confort vs Apple Airpod Pro 2
3. Video
Put your video ON
While I am an introvert, I believe putting the video on is a sign of both commitment and respect (you are not doing something else in the background / You have full focus on the meeting)
Often, non verbal communication is more valuable than verbal communication
Often, non verbal communication is more valuable than verbal communication
Background – Blur or Wallpaper
I like putting that same wallpaper for consistency – so that people don’t lose focus wondering where I could be from my real background (I am a digital nomad)
4. Value of the meeting
Did you add value to it ?
While listening is the most important thing, if you are part of a meeting, you have to contribute and add value to it. If not, you should be using that time better and just ask for a summary
Was it needed at all ?
Most times, meetings are not needed and are a waste of time and money – X (number of people) x Y (duration of the meeting) x W (average $/h/person) = TOO MUCH.
5. Feedbacks
Ask for feedbacks
When you change some setups/configs/teams, make sure to ask for some feedbacks with some simple questions :
– Could you hear me well ? Was I breaking ?
– Could you hear me well ? Was I breaking ?
– (if you are the organiser) Was the meeting relevant / Did you get value out of this ?
Provide feedbacks
Most times, it is hard to know how we come through – and most times, people don’t ask for feedbacks – Be proactive about this :
– Hey mate, you were breaking a lot / It was hard to hear you today
– (Harder) Hey, I don’t think a whole meeting was needed for this decision