The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for teams to gather together at physical locations. This is especially true when your organisation comprised of members from different cities or states. To compensate, companies had to take suitable measures to keep operations going such as switching to home-based work.

The result was that small, medium, and large enterprises alike turned to virtual platforms to meet with their workers online. These enabled home-based professions to hold discussions in real time, regardless of where they were based in the world. Conversations are done through video conferences and calls even more now.

Why virtual meeting activities are great

While online meetings won’t miraculously solve issues with productivity or communication, they provide numerous benefits over in-person meetings, such as:

• You minimise expenses related to physical events, including but not limited to airline tickets, hotel accommodation, food, and event venue fees.
• You reduce the amount of time spent on planning, preparing, and conducting the physical meeting as opposed to people jumping on a quick video call.
• You encourage the participants to engage and collaborate more through various video/audio conferencing features and direct chat options.
• You get to host hundreds or even thousands of attendees at the same time without worrying about finding a venue capable of accommodating everyone.
• You assure everyone involved that they are kept safe from contracting the coronavirus or any other contagious ailment from in-person gatherings.
• You maximise every opportunity to sell your products or services to clients without being restricted by geographical location and within just a few clicks.
• You have your choice of feature-rich applications or platforms to choose from so you may avail of features that meet your specific requirements or needs.

What virtual meeting tips to try

Despite the several advantages of remote meetings, they come with their own share of trouble, especially when you’re doing them for virtual assistant hiring or home-based job hiring. Keep people engaged when they’re talking to you online by trying these strategies:

Consider if there’s a need for a meeting

Many times, you don’t actually have to call for a conference with your workers but may settle for an email instead. There’s always the option to record a video message and send it to the relevant parties too. Writing up a new protocol and releasing a company newsletter may suffice as well.

Pick the right platform or tool to use

Rather than choose the program that is most popular, go for the one that matches your budget and unique needs. For instance, Calendly enables you to schedule events through a user-friendly interface while Zoom has a free version that allows you to 100-person meetings.

Organise an agenda for the discussion

Note the objectives you hope to achieve from the meeting, be it pitching a new idea for a product or teaching a new process. Outline what you want to talk about in the start, middle, and end of the session while leaving some room for answering any questions.

Select a theme for special occasions

Let’s say you’re hiring for a home-based day shift non voice role around the summer season. It might be a good idea to take this theme into the interview by having applicants wear summery colours, for instance. Have a team meeting in December with Christmas-themed items too.

Insert some informal enquiries

If you’ve set aside time for a long meeting, include a section where participants may ask informal questions to the presenters or to fellow attendees. This is so they may establish rapport amongst each other and boost collaboration. Maintain control over the gathering and ensure that nobody goes beyond boundaries.

Get your and their pets included

The thing about home-based online jobs in the Philippines is that your workers are likely bonding with their furry friends in their work spaces. Perhaps you may ask them to show their pets and any tricks they are capable of performing. It’s also an option for them to talk about how they got their companion.

Start with an icebreaker

One of the top virtual assistant skills when it comes to boosting teamwork is knowing how to start off meetings. There are plenty of icebreakers your group may do online, such as taking a picture of something around their workstation. They may also describe themselves through a tweet so everyone may know each other better.

Hire for virtual assistant jobs online

Since you have a better idea how to make your virtual meetings engaging, it goes without saying that you also know how to make online interviews more engaging. On the topic of recruitment, you may be thinking what you may do to have a more motivated remote team.

We at Remote Workmate have a suggestion—hiring through us for virtual assistant jobs in the Philippines. We are connected to a wide range of online professionals who specialise in different niches, be it accounting or digital marketing.

Give the button below a click to get started on hiring for home-based online jobs in the Philippines.