The days of centralized corporate staffing - where all members of your team work in the same office - or at least in the same building, are rapidly fading away. The accelerated globalization of the market place, combined with sometimes drastic reductions in travel and personnel budgets in the current economy, has made it necessary for one manager to oversee the activities of sales or project teams that may be scattered across several states or even several continents. Fortunately, the technology now exists to accomplish this task in a smooth and effective manner, but it still takes practice and planning.
The key to conducting team meetings remotely is the availability of Internet-based meeting platforms like WebEx and GoToMeeting. These interfaces allow all participants to view whatever is on the manager’s – or anyone else's – computer, and discuss everything in real-time phone conversations. It is even possible for participants to use embedded tools to make changes to the documents, highlight specific portions for follow up, record meeting feedback using the whiteboard feature, and do practically anything that can be done in a face-to-face meeting. These powerful applications can also enable live video conferencing, so that all participants with web cams can see each other, further enhancing that live, face-to-face meeting effect. You can connect everyone on the team simultaneously, as long as everyone has access to a phone and a high-speed Internet connection. You can even record the entire meeting for play back and review later.
While these interfaces are fairly simple to use, it does take training and practice to implement them seamlessly. Be sure you have been thoroughly trained in how to operate all the features. Here are some quick tips for conducting online team meetings:
