4 Common Problems in Virtual Meeting and Corresponding Solutions

A virtual meeting refers to business discussion conducted via internet broadcast, videoconferencing, email and other similar modes. As you can imagine, it enables you to proceed with business discussion anytime wherever you are just like traditional meeting face to face. However, the virtual meeting also has its own problems. Here I’d like to list the most common 4 together with fixes below.

Problem 1: Repeating yourself over and over again

This happens mostly when the attendee is not paying attention to what the presenter is saying. In that case, if you ask them a question, they would always reply with "Can you repeat that please?"

Solution: Make sure to know everyone's name if it is a meeting that involves many attendees. This is extremely useful in getting one’s attention because people tend to be more focused if his name is mentioned in a meeting. Hence, to perfect every virtual meeting, remember to start every sentence with someone's name.

Problem 2: You have no idea who is talking to you

It happens when the presenter asks you for your opinion but you’ve no idea who that person is. Generally, such situation could lead to a hard time answering since addressing someone you’re not familiar with is quite tricky.

Solution: Lead the effort. Use all means to ensure that everybody knows you as soon as you start to speak. This would make it easier for people to call you by name when they want to ask you a question or need your opinion. This can be possible if you introduce yourself several times as you commence to speak so as to make the other members accustomed to your name and voice.

Problem 3: External noises and disturbance from the background

This happens the entire time. Baby cries, dog barks, automobile sounds and construction hammering could turn a meeting into a very torturous affair. This could make the members irritated and easy to lose concentration on the matter at hand. Most successful meetings are usually held in a quiet environment to guarantee full concentration.

Solution: Ensure high level etiquette guidelines are formulated and set to allow smooth running of the meeting.

Problem 4: Technology could fail

PowerPoint might decide to crash or one of the member's microphones might not pick up his voice and cut him out of the meeting. The video feed could also be so poor that all the members would look the same and unrecognizable. This would obviously interfere with the smooth running of the virtual meeting.

Solution: Have a backup plan prepared in case of any technical hitch occurs. Although there’re still technology issues can’t be fully prevented, such as bad Wi-Fi connection, call cutting out and device failure, it’s still recommended that you try ezTalks to host virtual meetings as ezTalks ensures the meeting goes on and everyone in the meeting are on the same page.

With above common problems in mind, you’d definitely avoid them next time and make the virtual meeting perfect and successful!