Online meeting to the rescue for social distance in the era of new normal

Virtual meetings produce results with many positive and energising outcomes 

By Prabath Chaminda Abeysiriwardana

Meetings without physical presence, once thought as far reached and less effective for the purpose of active communication, has gained a new momentum in this period of calamity of COVID-19. So-called online meetings mushroomed in the fertility of ‘new normal’ to allow individuals to share information in real-time without being present in a single physical location. 

Soft or online meetings

Any organisation prefers to conduct remote meetings or virtual meetings in situations where physical meeting is not a viable option. There is subtle difference between a remote meeting and a virtual meeting. In remote meeting, individuals regardless of their location use any kind of communication available in real time (E.g.: telephone system) with minimum interactions to utilise text, audio and video. In contrast, virtual meetings have extensive interactions that take place over the internet using integrated audio and video, chat tools, and application sharing. 

Method of delivery

Web conferencing and video conferencing are core of the virtual meetings. The two methods have slightly different meanings. Video conferencing allows high-quality connection via high-definition audio and video. It may use specialised video conferencing equipment (E.g.: video conference endpoint) and video protocols. Web conferencing uses public web. It allows participants to visually connect and work together using their laptops or mobile devices. It may usually use a platform or a cloud-based application. 

This application is downloaded to computer for interactive meetings such as webinars or, webcasts (connected through URL) with the only option of watching and listening to a presenter. Web conferencing is less expensive and more accessible than standard video conferencing. Nowadays, web conferencing gained much popularity allowing users to share screens and documents with reduced travel costs. 

Conduct a remote meeting

There are many meeting software such as Zoom, Google Meet, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, Houseparty, Microsoft Teams, Skype, WhatsApp, etc. to conduct a remote meeting. The host user invites the meeting attendees through one of these software. At the end, recorded meeting minute is delivered.

In Sri Lanka, open-source platforms are adopted to facilitate these virtual meetings. Ones used by LEARN for university system and LGII for government institutes are such examples.

Advantages of soft meetings

There are many advantages of virtual meetings. They are cost effective and facilitate connection from anywhere. They allow sharing of a broad variety of information in real time with increased opportunities for its participants. The attendants are highly encouraged to participate as they are allowed to attend from their own choice of place. These meetings facilitate interactions such as PowerPoint files onscreen while you speak at the side enabling participants to collaborate. Meanwhile, organisations reduce the carbon-footprint since virtual meetings work on green technology. 

Poorly-run meetings

Poorly-run meetings have a negative impact on its employees resulting in employees losing their effective time. Virtual meetings produce results with many positive and energising outcomes, including better decision-making, cohesion, agility, and resilience that are essential components of successful teamwork.

Meeting science has now evolved with key insights for remote meetings. Leaders often adopt a stewardship mindset to avoid customers to feel the meeting was a waste of time. The decisions span how he set up beforehand, how he manages productivity and presence during the meeting, and how he concludes it. 

Future of soft meetings

The virtual reality workspace is an innovation in the virtual meeting scenario to provide a 3D experience. Here, the user needs only a web browser to exchange hands with a stranger without physically meeting him (no need of a hand sanitiser!). Although the user wants to use a headset to attend a meeting to get that virtual reality experience, the project ‘Spatial’ has announced that the service is launched via web browsers without need of wearing headsets to have that experience. 

Therefore, in today’s ever-changing world of business against unprecedented increase of social distancing in the realm of physical face-to-face meetings, the only effective way of keeping employees in touch with each other in different geographical locations is the use of online meetings.

(The writer is the Deputy Director (Planning), Ministry of Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovation.)