WRITING TASK 2

Topic: Virtual meetings Essay type: Discussion essay

A. Reading for ideas

I. Disadvantages of online meetings

Many organizations and businesses are switching from in-person meetings, which
cause expensive travel and disrupted schedules, to hold online meetings between their
staff at multiple locations. This practice exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when
more and more employees began working from home.
Electronic meetings greatly increase the ease with which a group meeting can be held,
but it also has subtle drawbacks in comparison with a traditional in-person face-to-face
gathering. Online meetings are useful but should be carefully considered against the
benefits of meeting in person. Reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of online
meetings will help you decide when they are right for your small business.

 Some Technical Limitations

The explosion of virtual meeting platforms has made it far easier to hold a group
meeting, but "easier" does not yet mean "easy." Organizing even a small group of
people online requires that everyone is familiar with the software and network used to
host the meeting and may exclude individuals who have difficulties with their computer
setup or internet connection.
These troubles increase with the number of people involved. A video conference may
work out well for two or three people, but it could become disastrous for seven or eight,
even if the software can supposedly handle that number easily. In addition, one of the
disadvantages of virtual meetings is hacking, or "Zoom bombing," where uninvited
guests show up and disrupt the meeting.

 Loss of Interpersonal Interactions

People meeting face-to-face communicate with each other in many ways that are not
limited to voice. Facial expressions and body language convey a great deal of
information, and unconscious communication cues help to facilitate discussion. These
cues can be missed or lost entirely when a meeting is held virtually, decreasing the
energy of participants.
When someone shifts position in person, they remain in full view of the rest of the
meeting; online, they could accidentally vanish from sight for a few moments. This
makes online meetings more difficult and increases the possibility of
misunderstandings.

 Opportunity for Distractions

Strong social factors are in place during face-to-face meetings, requiring everyone to
remain engaged with the meeting and to give their attention to the speakers – or at
least, to always appear to do so. Compare that with online meetings, where the urge to
check email or pour another cup of coffee may be much more tempting and lead to
people not paying attention to parts of the meeting.
This is especially easy when people can use avatars rather than using live video of
themselves during a meeting. For the same reason, it's difficult for someone in an online
meeting to excuse himself from an in-person interruption, since in-person is socially
more important. This can be eased with strong corporate culture favoring the online
meeting, but this is difficult to create and maintain.

 When to Meet Online

Online meetings have their place because they save so much money and time against
costs when flying people to meet each other in person. Online meetings are best held
for regular and brief interactions between small workgroups. Larger meetings, and
meetings between people who have not met before in person, lend themselves to an in-
person meeting, although interim gatherings between major discussions may be shifted
online.
You should also consider generational preferences. Employees who grew up before
digital interaction became prevalent will probably be more interested in face-to-face
meetings, while employees who spent much of their time communicating via email,
texting, cellphone calls and chats might have a greater fear of intimacy and prefer virtual
meetings.

II. Advantages of online meetings

Many of us haven’t had as many video meetings in our whole lives as in the past two
years. During the first COVID-19 lockdowns, virtual meetings became the new norm for
employees and companies all around the world, with 200 million people using Zoom
alone every day at the beginning of 2020, compared to 10 million in December 2019.
Despite becoming a regular fixture, virtual meetings are still seen as inferior to in-person
meetings. Yet, with hybrid and remote forms of work here to stay, companies will need
to embrace them and work out how to get the most from them.

Virtual meeting benefits

Thankfully, the potential here is huge—while virtual meetings might not materially solve
the productive problems of meeting culture itself, they actually offer several advantages
over in-office meetings. As we learn to adjust to hybrid ways of working, there's a huge
opportunity to improve the basic structures shaping our collaboration. We would all do
well to remember the biggest benefits of virtual meetings as we rewrite old
inefficiencies.

1. Reduced time wasting

With virtual meetings, the amount of scheduling and logistical faff surrounding a meeting
tends to be significantly lower than with in-person meetings. You don’t have to think
about booking a room, or worry whether your meeting space is big enough for all
invitees, should they turn up. You don’t have to factor in whether or not certain
employees are even in the office that day. Plus, the physical act of actually getting to a
meeting room can easily take 10 or 15 minutes, as people try to finish up what they’re
doing, dash to the bathroom, or make themselves a drink before leaving their desk.
When you dial in at a set time, all that disappears.

2. Tighter agendas
Experience of the past two working years has spawned a new, unofficial condition:
"Zoom fatigue". People recognize that video meetings can be surprisingly draining,
which is what most teams want to keep them as short as possible. Analysis from
Microsoft on its newly remote workforce revealed a positive new trend: the rise of the
30-minute meeting. They found that individual meetings shrank in duration, with 22%
more meetings of 30 minutes or less, and 11% fewer meetings of more than one hour.
More efficient, shorter meetings with fewer meanders that cut to the point and get the
job done faster is clearly good news—freeing up more space for everyone to get on with
the important tasks that matter.

3. Ease of costing
When all your meetings are digital, it becomes infinitely easier to quantify all the time
your company spends on different catch-ups and communications. This is crucial if you
are billing for all client time, or simply want to map where time goes across different
projects. With a flawless digital record of all meeting time, you can instantly see which
meetings cost you the most (both in time and money). With an automatic meeting
tracker set up, your team can accurately record how long each meeting took, who
attended, and any follow-up work it created.

5. Directness of communication
Because you can’t see where people are looking in virtual meetings, you can’t tell who
they’re directing their comments or questions to—so you’re forced to become more
explicit in how you communicate. You have to mention people’s names—firstly to let
them know you’re speaking to them, and secondly to avoid two people speaking at
once. This can provide the opportunity for more democratic participation; it’s easier to
become aware of one or two employees dominating the discussion, and ensure
everyone has the space to talk. Ensuring everyone feels heard is crucial for creating a
healthy company culture, whether you’re working remotely or not.

6. Ability to humanize and level

Virtual meetings are also good levelers, helping employees connect with relatively little
effort. Anyone can join video meetings, from anywhere—all you need is a good internet
connection and earphones. Seeing our colleagues in their home setting diffuses starchy
professionalism and works to humanize them, helping everyone build empathy and
become more relatable—an imposing manager doesn’t seem quite so daunting in
casual clothes, with screaming kids in the background. Joining video meetings in
spaces most of us feel comfortable in (our homes), it’s normal to feel more at ease and
more confident than you would if you were sitting around a table in an office.

7. Less small talk

Another perk of having a tighter agenda means eliminating small talk and unnecessary
pleasantries. It’s nice to be nice, but we don’t need to chit chat for the sake of it when
it’s eating into valuable time—and hopefully your team creates dedicated virtual spaces
for catching up. Without any awkward small talk, meetings can stay work-focused and
on track. It also stops meetings from being used as substitutes for wellbeing policies or
team bonding. There’s a time and a place to connect with coworkers and build
relationships, and an important video meeting (usually!) isn’t it.

8. Ease of saying “no”

Not only do virtual meetings make it easier for you to leave, should you feel they’re
unproductive or irrelevant, they also make it easier for you to opt-out ahead. When
you’re sent a digital meeting invitation, it’s no biggie to decline it or respond with
“maybe”. You probably won’t feel awkward about doing that, but in the office, when a
coworker or manager asks if you’re joining the meeting, it’s harder to say no.
Circumventing office politics, this makes it easier to protect time for the work that
actually matters.
9. Enhanced collaboration
While it’s true that virtual communication isn’t as natural or fluid as real-life
communication, and conversations can often be rather stilted, this oddly can make it
easier to brainstorm and collaborate effectively. If only one person’s microphone is able
to be active at one time, this can lead to more democratic, balanced collaboration,
where everyone gets their turn and has time and space to talk. All the tools needed for
successful virtual collaboration are still available – like whiteboards, annotation
functionality, screen sharing, even virtual breakout rooms – and can provide “more
control, speed, structure, and clarity than… [sitting] around a conference table”,
according to certain businesses.