Essential Apps and Services

Remote Connectivity

Communication Tools

Collaboration/Productivity Tools

  Online Meeting Etiquette - Hosting and Participating

Hosting meetings

Prepare before the meeting

  • Ensure all meeting participants have the meeting invitation link and materials prior to the meeting.
  • Have any documents or screens you will be sharing open and ready to go.
  • If your presentation contains video, be aware it will require your participants to have a very good internet connection.
  • Be prepared to leverage good meeting practices, such as
    • Sending an agenda in advance. This helps keep the meeting on pace and provides structure.
    • Having a meeting facilitator
    • Sending out minutes after the meeting.
  • Leave Time for questions

Your meeting room

  • Seek as quiet a space as possible with no, or minimal, background noise.
  • Connect from a reliable, stable internet connection.
  • Get connected early to allow time to troubleshoot and resolve any potential issues with equipment. Test your headset, camera, and microphone to ensure they are working prior to the meeting start time.
  • If you are connecting from a laptop, try to plug into wall power, because battery use can adversely affect video quality.
  • Video
    • Close all blinds and doors to cut down on potential glare. Interior lighting should not be too dark or too bright. Normally, the settings used in a traditional work environment are adequate.
    • Adjust the camera angle or your seating position to ensure you are on camera.
    • Ensure you have a clean and appropriate background.
    • Wear appropriate clothing.

Communicate effectively

  • Once all attendees are present, take a minute to conduct an audio check of participants. A quick round of introductions is an effective way to do this. 
  • If you plan to record the meeting, notify all participants at the beginning of the meeting.
  • If remotely joining via low-bandwidth or slower internet connection, it may be necessary to disable video in order to improve audio reliability.

During the meeting

  • When not speaking, make sure your audio is muted. This will prevent you from interrupting others with inadvertent noises, such as coughs, rattling papers, or chair squeaks. As the meeting organizer it may be necessary to mute all attendee microphones to avoid disruptions.
  • Speak clearly and in a normal voice.
  • Minimize body movements
    • Avoid quick movements they may appear jumpy or choppy to others on the call.
    • Maintain eye contact with the camera and stay engaged in the meeting.
    • Do not turn your back to the camera.

Work effectively with online meeting technology

  • When you ask a question or request information, allow time for slightly delayed responses because conferencing systems may experience slight transmission delays.
  • When possible, avoid interrupting others as they are speaking. Interrupting another speaker can cause the audio to cut out.
  • Establish an understanding among participants of when and how to interrupt. For example, if video is on you can have people raise hands or use the raise hand function of the video conferencing app.
  • Ask participants to post questions via chat.

Participating in Meetings

Be on time

  • Log into the meeting prior to the start time.
  • Test headset, camera, and microphone to ensure they are working prior to the meeting start time.
  • Connect from a reliable, stable internet connection.

Eliminate distractions.

  • Eliminate distractions by turning off or muting devices such as TVs,music, and cell phones.
  • Refrain from eating and chewing gum during meetings.
  • Remind others in your location that you will be engaged in a video conference so interruptions are limited.

Video

  • Adjust the camera angle or your seating position to ensure your face is fully seen by others.
  • Close all blinds and doors to reduce glare. Interior lighting should not be too dark or too bright. Normally, the settings used in a traditional work environment are adequate.
  • Ensure you have a clean and appropriate background.
  • Wear appropriate clothing.
  • Maintain eye contact with the camera.
  • Stay engaged during the meeting and refrain from multitasking.

Audio

  • Be careful not to interrupt when someone else is speaking - Use the "raise your hand" feature speak when someone else is currently speaking.
  • If everyone doesn't know everyone else in a meeting, introduce yourself when speaking (This is......) and look into the camera.
  • Be courteous and respect others as you would in any meeting.
  • When not speaking, make sure your audio is muted to prevent inadvertent noises, such as coughs, rattling of papers, or chair squeaks.

Use the chat feature for questions and comments.

  • Be sure you have to selected which participants you want to message so you don't inadvertantly send a private message to the whole group.