How can you promote innovation and entrepreneurship with video conferencing?

1 Set clear goals and expectations

Before you start any video conference, make sure you have a clear purpose and agenda for the meeting. Define the objectives, outcomes, and roles of each participant, and communicate them in advance. This will help you avoid wasting time and energy on irrelevant or redundant topics, and focus on the most important and urgent issues. It will also help you set the tone and expectations for the meeting, and encourage your team to prepare and contribute effectively.

2 Encourage participation and feedback

One of the challenges of video conferencing is to keep everyone engaged and involved. To promote innovation and entrepreneurship, you need to create a space where your team can share their ideas, opinions, and insights freely and respectfully. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, soliciting feedback, acknowledging contributions, and providing constructive criticism. You can also use interactive features such as polls, quizzes, chats, and breakout rooms to stimulate discussion and collaboration. Make sure you listen actively, respond empathetically, and summarize key points and action items.

3 Leverage diverse perspectives and expertise

One of the advantages of video conferencing is that you can connect with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and disciplines. This can enrich your team's creativity and problem-solving skills, as well as expose you to new opportunities and markets. To leverage this diversity, you need to foster a culture of inclusion and respect, where everyone feels valued and appreciated for their unique contributions. You can also invite external experts, mentors, or customers to join your video conference, and learn from their perspectives and experiences.

4 Experiment and iterate

Another way to promote innovation and entrepreneurship with video conferencing is to use it as a platform to test and refine your ideas and products. You can use video conferencing to conduct rapid prototyping, user testing, feedback sessions, and product demos. You can also use it to showcase your results, celebrate your successes, and learn from your failures. By experimenting and iterating, you can improve your team's agility, adaptability, and resilience, as well as generate valuable insights and feedback.

5 Inspire and motivate

Finally, video conferencing can help you inspire and motivate your team to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship. You can use video conferencing to share inspiring stories, examples, and best practices from your own or other organizations. You can also use it to recognize and reward your team's achievements, efforts, and improvements. You can also use it to communicate your vision, mission, and values, and align them with your team's goals and aspirations. By inspiring and motivating your team, you can increase their commitment, engagement, and satisfaction.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?