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I'm in one right now and it's excruciating. People need to be able to see you - fix your lighting. People need to hear you - don't rely on the mic on the laptop. People won't listen to you if you're showing slides, especially if they're complex diagrams or have 100s of words on them. Pace your speech...pausing mid-sentence...can be really...distracting...and difficult for us...to...concentrate.
My sons complain of the sheer amount of meetings off and online. They say they have to find time to get work done around all the meetings bloody meetings!
My sons complain of the sheer amount of meetings off and online. They say they have to find time to get work done around all the meetings bloody meetings!
I’ve been retired 3yrs now and don’t miss work. I did work for an incredibly forward thinking corporate (not a tech giant) who had brilliant governance on these types of meetings. Essentially, no Teams or Web based interactions could be longer than 45 mins and no more than 10 members of staff could attend. We were encouraged to call-out poor management of these meetings if the host exceeded the rules. The approach was based on fixing issues quickly and not loitering to discuss mistakes - that could wait until the projects or work was completed. Generally, the company was stellar at delivering very complex projects, working to budget and having incredibly accurate debriefs.
I somehow got volunteered as faculty AI champion, and got chased by head of HR because I hadn't done the online course I'm supposed to do. I asked how long it would take and he cheerfully told me 20 hours. Oh right yeah, cool, and where exactly am I fitting that into my week ffs!?
My sons complain of the sheer amount of meetings off and online. They say they have to find time to get work done around all the meetings bloody meetings!
This is because everything is micro-managed the fk out of it. No one is just allowed to get on and do the job. Nooooo, bosses too schit scared mistakes will be made. Yeah? well train people up properly then. Nooooooo, bosses schit scared they'll then just move on to another job.
So everything is decision by committee and you sit there with your thumb up your @rse waiting to be told what to do because you're not allowed to decide for yourself then the bosses complain too many people are asking them what to do all the time. You couldn't make it up.
This is because everything is micro-managed the fk out of it. No one is just allowed to get on and do the job. Nooooo, bosses too schit scared mistakes will be made. Yeah? well train people up properly then. Nooooooo, bosses schit scared they'll then just move on to another job.
So everything is decision by committee and you sit there with your thumb up your @rse waiting to be told what to do because you're not allowed to decide for yourself then the bosses complain too many people are asking them what to do all the time. You couldn't make it up.
[Post edited 9 Jul 18:13]
Loved this image I saw last week about arsecovering:
I produce podcasts and the data has been around for years - Yashiro et al 2024, Newman and Schwarz 2018, Martin-Santana et al 2017 - and a person with a better mic will ALWAYS be perceived as more authoritative, have more credibility, etc.
The problem is people assume a recorded Zoom call can operate as a podcast - they can't. You have to edit, produce, refine and design the sound to make it acceptable.
I produce podcasts and the data has been around for years - Yashiro et al 2024, Newman and Schwarz 2018, Martin-Santana et al 2017 - and a person with a better mic will ALWAYS be perceived as more authoritative, have more credibility, etc.
The problem is people assume a recorded Zoom call can operate as a podcast - they can't. You have to edit, produce, refine and design the sound to make it acceptable.
So, you're saying my megaphone might not be the best option?
'What do we want? We don't know! When do we want it? Now!'
I spend most of my life on Google Hangouts or zoom calls which are 90% of the time utterly pointless. worst is when I'm in the office and you have to sit in a booth talking to people on the next floor because meeting face to face in a meeting room is not how we do things in the modern world
I produce podcasts and the data has been around for years - Yashiro et al 2024, Newman and Schwarz 2018, Martin-Santana et al 2017 - and a person with a better mic will ALWAYS be perceived as more authoritative, have more credibility, etc.
The problem is people assume a recorded Zoom call can operate as a podcast - they can't. You have to edit, produce, refine and design the sound to make it acceptable.
Now I remember where I heard it. It was at the live recording of a podcast in Sheffield last Sunday.
I read an article on meetings the other day I think it was by Tim Ferris.There should be a checklist for these meetings. I can't remember it all but it went along the lines of. 1. Who called the meeting and what is the purpose? 2. At the end of the meeting there has to be a definite progressive step. 3. Is there a decision-maker on the call who can implement that step?
If none of those are present then the meeting doesn't happen.
My sons complain of the sheer amount of meetings off and online. They say they have to find time to get work done around all the meetings bloody meetings!
I spend at least 6 hours a day in virtual meetings my calendar is an absolute mess. Work gets done in the evenings or in the hour I have where the East coast is done for the day but Central time zone still has another hour. It's horrible and unhealthy.
I’ve been retired 3yrs now and don’t miss work. I did work for an incredibly forward thinking corporate (not a tech giant) who had brilliant governance on these types of meetings. Essentially, no Teams or Web based interactions could be longer than 45 mins and no more than 10 members of staff could attend. We were encouraged to call-out poor management of these meetings if the host exceeded the rules. The approach was based on fixing issues quickly and not loitering to discuss mistakes - that could wait until the projects or work was completed. Generally, the company was stellar at delivering very complex projects, working to budget and having incredibly accurate debriefs.
Sounds great but how did you train people - as in classroom-style multi-day training? Or things like design workshops and architecture sessions? Fly them in and put them up?
I'm asking as I used to travel around Europe doing that and now it's almost exclusively remote via Teams. The customer is still paying the same rate for my time and my employer must have saved millions on T&E (my expenses alone were often a couple of grand a month).
To E17s point it can also be pretty demoralising being the presenter of a remote workshop. I have no cues to tell me if I'm going too fast, too slow, if anyone's passing attention or getting what I'm trying to tell them. Half the attendees could be lying in bed for all I know and putting "brb" in the chat is just a more socially acceptable way of saying "I'm off for a shìt"
Sounds great but how did you train people - as in classroom-style multi-day training? Or things like design workshops and architecture sessions? Fly them in and put them up?
I'm asking as I used to travel around Europe doing that and now it's almost exclusively remote via Teams. The customer is still paying the same rate for my time and my employer must have saved millions on T&E (my expenses alone were often a couple of grand a month).
To E17s point it can also be pretty demoralising being the presenter of a remote workshop. I have no cues to tell me if I'm going too fast, too slow, if anyone's passing attention or getting what I'm trying to tell them. Half the attendees could be lying in bed for all I know and putting "brb" in the chat is just a more socially acceptable way of saying "I'm off for a shìt"
[Post edited 10 Jul 12:14]
I run online sessions as well as attending them - mostly in small groups but have one with 70 people next week, and c. 400 later in the week too. There is a real skill in delivering online as opposed to face to face and it takes a lot of practice and understanding of not just the tools, but how to use the chat functions, reaction buttons, etc. and make it interesting and not just a talking head.
I'm happy to be one of the better ones in my sector and can charge upwards of a monkey for an hour to run and facilitate a session properly. Training people to use these tools better is a decent income stream for me!
My sons complain of the sheer amount of meetings off and online. They say they have to find time to get work done around all the meetings bloody meetings!
End on-line meeting misery with the GnomeMart personalised cardboard cut-out. Simply place in front of your computer camera and no-one will know you're not there, allowing you to get on with your job. Or slope off down the pub for a crafty pint, your choice.
"Career-changing": Mr B Williams, Shepherds Bush
Send photograph of yourself in work attire plus £59.99
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