Effective communication in virtual space

Virtual space is the reality of modern day work-space. Many ?organization work in hybrid model, few use virtual space entirely. It is a challenge to communicate effectively to drive the point home and desired outcomes are achieved. Another pain point is keeping the audience engaged and involved for a fruitful discussion. Communication is a two way traffic, it is meaningless to have one way dialogue.

Communication is 80% non-verbal and only 20% verbal. Non-verbal communication includes the body language, gestures, emotions, tone and mannerism of the speaker. ?While communicating in virtual space, it needs a high level of insights and skills to communicate effectively and keep the audience engaged. Few useful tips, whether you are the speaker or ?part of the audience :-

1.?????? Being on time is too late – Always join the meeting 2-3 minutes in advance, so that you are 100% ready to go at the ?top of the hour. Joining the meetings ?at the exact time makes you take a few minutes to become situationally aware, exchange greeting and be available for the meeting. As a result, meeting always starts a few minutes late. How do I join early, if the previous meeting ends on time or even over-runs? Refer to point number 7 below.

2.?????? Mic – check. Join a few minutes early, exchange greeting with people joining the meeting. Smart professionals ask others” can you? hear me”, genius ones say hello, how are you? The reply they get does two tricks- mic-check and better engagement with the audience.

3.?????? Show yourself – It is advisable to keep the video on. In case of any technical issue or bandwidth problem, if you are not able to keep the video on, switch the video on while you reply to a question/ or you speak. Imagine that? a colleague is speaking with you and you have turned your back towards the colleague. How will he/she ?feel? It feels as if you are speaking to a wall.

4.?????? Eye contact – Maintain eye contact. It’s easy. You need to look into the camera, especially when you speak or spoken to.

5.?????? Patience-Wait for the present speaker to complete before presenting your point of view. No harm in using the raise hand option.

6.?????? Stick to the topic- Listen to others, never hijack the agenda of the meeting. If you need a strong urge to discuss something off the topic,connect with a particular team member off-line to discuss your point.?

7.?????? Time-box – Every single person on the meeting has the next meeting to attend, some urgent email needs a reply, some training to attend, the list is un-ending. Kindly refrain from exceeding the time-line. It’s great to finish 2 minutes early. It shows that you care. It triggers a chain reaction, everyone gets time to attend the next task ahead of time.

8.?????? First name- Address the participants by their first name as far as possible. People feel they belong to the group. It’s the key to wonderful outcomes.

9. Distractions - A big "NO" during the entire length of the meeting. In case you can't avoid taking a phone call, be courteous to say so and be quick to get back.

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These practical and time tested communication tips have proven very effective in highly engaging conversations in virtual space, leading to desired outcomes. The meetings never remain mundane and boring. Team members look forward to connect with you, have lots of fun and engage in a vibrant, positive, energetic and result oriented discussion, over and over again. Since this one is not the last meeting you convened or attended, you can follow a few tips from here. Course correction has always been a very wise thing.