6 Tips to Bring Your Hybrid Meetings to the Next Level

    SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, February 23, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- With omicron and other COVID-19 variants circulating, it seems remote work could be with us for the foreseeable future. And yes, that means even more Zoom meetings. Hybrid meetings present their own sets of challenges. How can business managers create better productivity and bring their virtual meetings to the next level?

Catherine Mattiske is a thought leader in virtual team management and a global business educator who has spent 30 years laser-focused on providing solutions to drive employee productivity. Author of the "Inner Genius" book and e-suite, providing individuals with a personalized blueprint for optimal communication, Catherine shares these six tips she recently contributed to CEOWorld.com on How to Bring Your Hybrid Meetings to the Next Level:

1. Set goals and objectives — Setting goals and objectives for meetings, a longtime best meeting practice, is probably twice as important in a hybrid setting. Share goals ahead of the meeting so that everyone can come prepared to contribute. Participants should also know in advance who has called the meeting, its purpose, and how all involved will know when the objective has been met.

2. Equalize participants' experiences — So that everyone feels that they are equally valued, it is crucial to ensure that your video conferencing platform allows every virtual meeting participant's face to be displayed clearly on the meeting room display, and that the audio support can make their opinions and insights clearly heard by all participants.

3. Partner participants — Assign each virtual participant an "in-room avatar": an employee (or fellow participant) who acts as their physical presence in the meeting room as required. Whether via text, chat, or phone, they will have a private line of communication constantly available throughout the meeting.

4. Establish ground rules — It is also helpful to establish ground rules at the beginning of the meeting, and then conduct an icebreaker that everyone contributes to.

5. Use technology tools, like chat — A great way to have all participants feel like they are part of the same team is to involve everyone with live word clouds. When participants are enabled to submit their one-word answers or ideas on a live broadcast, they can see what other employees are thinking and collaborate to create a strong sense of community, regardless of location. In addition, word cloud polls are great for inclusive icebreakers that get everyone involved from the start of a meeting.

6. Translate messages — It is hard enough in an all-in-room or an all-virtual environment to communicate effectively and efficiently. However, in a hybrid environment, communication is even more challenging. Facilitators risk wasting time, causing confusion, and being inefficient with time and meeting outputs. Specific examples of this in real life are doubling back over earlier conversations, asking clarifying questions, not meeting the goals of the team, disengaged meeting participants, side-meetings after the meeting, recurring meetings without progress, and so forth. A solution to this problem is learning communication preferences of each team member and translating those messages. You can view a simple profile to help your team members understand their different archetypes and communication preferences at innergeniusnow.com.

About Catherine Mattiske: Global business educator and author Catherine Mattiske is the founder of TPC — The Performance Company, a leading training and consulting organization that has worked with Fortune 100 companies around the world. Established in 1994, The Performance Company has offices in Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, London, Singapore, and Basel (Switzerland). The author of more than 30 books, her latest is "Unlock Inner Genius: Power Your Path to Extraordinary Success" (September 2021). Learn more at InnerGeniusNow.com.

For more information, visit the online press kit InnerGenius.OnlinePressKit247.com.
To request an interview with Catherine Mattiske, contact International Publicist Michelle Tennant Nicholson: [email protected] or 828-749-3200.

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