In the course of one month, the majority of global office workers moved to remote work. Meetings that used to happen in the hallway, the board room or an auditorium now occur online. Fortunately, technology offers the tools to make that happen smoothly. Use these hints to turbo charge the productivity of your Microsoft 365 virtual meetings.
Minimize Distractions
Conducting a meeting online from home means dealing with all the chaos of a family confined to quarters. One participant opens a noisy bag of chips. Another forgot to remove the pile of dirty clothes from the bed behind his chair. A toddler races through the meeting, chasing a barking dog.
Microsoft knows how difficult it can be to find a quiet, professional setting to conduct a business meeting from home. Consequently, the company has introduced real-time noise suppression and background blur to keep the focus on the meeting at hand.
Improve Meeting Preparation and Follow-up
To make a meeting successful, team members need to also optimize the time before and after the meeting. When you conduct Microsoft 365 virtual meetings, you tap into a host of features that extend from scheduling to meeting follow-up.
Start by including the meeting agenda with the initial meeting invitation in Outlook. Link to related documents in SharePoint or One Drive. Then, take advantage of the Microsoft Teams option to record and transcribe the meeting, connecting all related documents to the meeting thread. Use the new Bookings app to streamline the scheduling of future meetings.
Make Joining Meetings Easy
Conducting a meeting with a group of people using various technology platforms can prove challenging. Fortunately, Teams includes multiple options to simplify the process of participating in a meeting and make meetings accessible regardless of your situation.
For instance, participants with limited internet connectivity can join via audio. External attendees can join by clicking an emailed link, without the need to download Teams. And industrial workers benefit from the recently-announced RealWear Headset integration, navigating on-device displays hands free.
Protect Privacy and Ensure Security
While working remotely, organizations still need to ensure security and compliance with privacy regulations. Microsoft offers a number of security and privacy tools to safeguard sensitive information and ensure privacy, even outside the normal security perimeter.
For example, meeting organizers can specify which participants can share and access related documents and meeting recordings. Encryption protects all of this information both in transit and at rest. And administrators can implement conditional access policies that require multi-factor authentication for risky sign-ins.
Increase Engagement with In-meeting Collaboration
The most productive meetings involve substantial interaction by participants. To facilitate that interaction, Teams integrates fully with all the Microsoft 365 apps. For instance, attendees can work collaboratively on a Word document or PowerPoint presentation in real time without leaving the video conference.
In addition, Microsoft just announced a new Raise Hand feature that allows participants to display a visual cue when they need to speak. This will help minimize the difficulties with multiple users trying to talk at once.
Make Assignments and Follow Up
Finally, Microsoft provides tools that facilitate the accountability that proves critical in making any meeting worthwhile. Using Outlook, for instance, organizers can assign tasks to meeting attendees and track their progress. Additionally, Teams is beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence tools to manage action items.
Learn How to Optimize Microsoft 365 Virtual Meetings
Learning how to take advantage of all the features available to you with Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) can take time. When you need to quickly master Microsoft 365 virtual meetings, tap into the expertise of the consultants at Messaging Architects. We will help you configure your system properly and ensure the privacy of your meetings with a comprehensive cyber security plan.
