How do you balance the frequency and duration of virtual business meetings with your other tasks?

1 Plan ahead

Before you schedule or accept a virtual meeting, ask yourself if it is really necessary, or if you can achieve the same goal through other means, such as email, chat, or phone. If you decide to go ahead with the meeting, make sure you have a clear agenda, a set time limit, and a list of participants. This will help you avoid unnecessary or redundant meetings, and make the most of the ones you do have.

2 Set boundaries

It can be tempting to fill your calendar with back-to-back virtual meetings, especially if you work across different time zones or with multiple teams. However, this can lead to fatigue, stress, and burnout. To prevent this, set some boundaries for yourself and others. For example, you can block some time slots for focused work, breaks, or personal activities, and decline or reschedule meetings that conflict with them. You can also communicate your availability and preferences to your colleagues and clients, and respect theirs as well.

4 Engage and interact

One of the challenges of virtual meetings is to keep everyone engaged and interactive. To overcome this, you can use some strategies to make your meetings more dynamic and collaborative. For example, you can start with a brief icebreaker or check-in, use polls or quizzes to gather feedback, ask open-ended questions to encourage participation, and acknowledge and appreciate contributions. You can also use gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey your message and emotions.