"Let's meet online" - the new normal, but is it effective?

It's no massive insight that we have all been forced to change the way we 'do business' in the meeting and conference space - I think we all get that. Everyone is meeting via Zoom, Teams, Skype or the mass array of platforms out there instead of the old school way of face to face events. From our industry and brand this was the way of the world - we had many big market, regional or global get togethers all over the world only 18 months or so ago, but now it's online global meetings galore. This means we all are very familiar with sitting in front of a screen participating in such events. But just how much do we participate, and how effective are they compared to the pre-covid way of doing things?

Let's be honest, nothing beats a good meeting, especially when it's a big scale one with friends and colleagues from around the globe whom you may not have seen for a while, but you could argue that these are also not effective. We attend the sessions, and generally have a higher level of engagement, but quite often we are only there in body, not in mind, especially a few days into the event if multi-day, as those late nights and late night activities generally take their toll the longer the session goes on. But despite this, the personal face to face engagement and the informal chat and networking is totally invaluable to us as humans and as business operators - this is all lost online for sure.

But back to our new normal of online platforms - why are they less effective and how has it changed us (in my view), and maybe this is just from my own personal behaviours, but I have to say I am totally guilty of pretty much all of these ineffective practices!

Disregarding all the usual technical challenges and frustrations that have already been written about, and even some new trending expressions (such as 'You are on mute', 'Can you hear me?', 'Put your pants on Tony...") there are several new behaviours that take place on your average daily Zoom/ Teams call that we all have seen or done...here are just a few:

• The camera is on at the start (sometimes), then as soon as the meeting starts, they all drop off to the black screen with a name - which means we are on the phone, have left the room with the meeting playing, we are doing something else, or who knows - the mind boggles! Question - Did you used to attend a meeting, then as soon as it started, walk out? I have, and do do this, but thinking about it, it is rude, and sure you can blame wifi bandwidth or whatever rubbish you wish, it's still rude.
• We play the 'disruptor game'. Me - TOTALLY GUILTY of this, but again - rude, but it takes place in every mass online meeting I've been on, and even if you're not personally doing it - for all those with their camera on, you can see it in action! This where we are totally engaged in flying off WhatsApp or SMS messages to each other, to groups or generally to others in the call instead of being engaged in the meeting - hence disrupting the impact or learning. Usually such messages are to make comments on the call, others within the call, faux paus from people speaking or just sending jokes or pictures to each other. As I admitted - I am guilty and quite often there are multiple group chats taking place all at once , which simply means you are not paying attention. How do you spot this? Easy. It's the wry smile, or the laugh with the hands over the mouth, or looking down at the phone or switching off the camera etc. I do have many screen shots showing this, but I won't include any in my post for face saving purposes - but it's pretty much every meeting. Another Question - Do you do this in a normal meeting? Most probably not, although some people do use their phone, which I personally hate and I always have my phone on silent and do not answer in a meeting face to face, yet we now find this totally acceptable!

• We are not even there - this is a good one and is kind of related to the no camera. This involves logging into a group meeting, giving your hellos and waves and small talk, then off goes the camera, and you simply disappear, off to continue your day while the meeting goes on. This is a trick used in mass participant calls with limited chance of attendee participation. Maybe you turn on that 3hr meeting and jump on your bike, or hit the golf course, or do other work (note- picture for illustration purposes, I would never do this!). In real life meetings, especially conferences - this one does happen. People come for the intro, then may have to duck out to 'take that call' or 'attend an important side meeting' and stuff.....
• The technical issue - another one that is common, and I think I have used once or twice from a call/ meeting I really didn't want to be at. This is an easy one and you can play it cleverly...but need to be careful, as a smart organiser can call you out! To do this effectively you need to drop out of the meeting and come back in a couple of times (either physically or turn wifi on/off), then send a message to the admin or chat saying you're having some tech issues and keep getting kicked out, then disappear....the WARNING - you could be told to simply dial in from a phone, so be careful how you play this one, especially if you are 5km into your ride as per the above point!

These are just a couple of common occurrences from our new normal - I am sure you have done at least one of these in the last 12 months, or maybe you have some better examples, if so post and share! These are simply consequences of the new normal and as meeting facilitators you have to determine if this concerns you, or how you manage it. Do you dictate cameras on and treat like a face to face? Do you make it more engaging with random questions or tasks to people to see who is actually paying attention? Or are there other tricks that you use.

My only concern is when we do get back to real human engagement and mass catch up events and meetings, will our behaviour have deteriorated where we cannot pay attention any more? Would love your thoughts, and I for one, miss my face to face catch ups with all my colleagues....