Scott McInnes breaks down how to run video calls that don't waste everyone's time. Organizers should ask if a meeting is necessary, cap it at 45 minutes, and send a clear agenda. Attendees should keep cameras on, close other tabs, and feel free to decline if they can't contribute.
Chapters
Hi there and welcome to episode 2 of Scott's Thoughts. We thought about McInnes's Moments, thanks for your suggestions, but the apostrophe S was going to get all tricky and troublesome. Scott's Hair-Raising Moments, well, I fixed that with a COVID haircut, DIY, DIY home cut, so that wasn't going to work either. You know what, for the time being, we're going to stick with Scott's Thoughts. And this week I want to talk a little bit about Zoom. Or VC or Teams or whatever system you're using because it has become quite ubiquitous. It seems to be these days that doesn't matter what the communications question is, the answer is always video conference. Can we have a quick chat? Yes, I'll send you a link on email. Or have you got 2 minutes? Yeah, let me find you a slot in the diary and I'll send you a link on email. Where actually often it's not the answer. Yes, it's the answer for lots of things and keeping in touch and seeing smiling faces and all that good stuff. But it's not always the answer. And for me, there's two parties at play in any video conference: the organizer and the attendee. And if we start by thinking about the organizer, because I, you know, I like these to be quite practical, the first question the organizer has to ask themselves is, is this necessary? Is this VC, this Teams, this Zoom a necessary thing to do? And if the answer is no, don't do it, because the chances are in some instances, there's a more effective way. I've got two teenage girls. I often have the conversation with them, tongue in cheek, to say, "You do know that device in your hand that you do all your messaging on, if you type in somebody's phone number, you can actually just put it to your ear and you can talk to them just one-to-one." And that works really well. And sometimes that's the right answer. Just picking up the phone, really quick, 2 minutes, job done. We haven't had to wait for days and days to find slots in diaries. And the answer to your question or the solution to your problem is nailed in the moment. So really important. If you do end up having to run a VC, then 45 minutes max. It's very hard for people to focus any longer than that. And the chances are you should be able to get done what you need to get done in that period. Of course, that's also being thoughtful of other people's time as well, because we're hearing so much now of people saying, oh, I'm just back to back to back on Teams and on Zoom. Give them a few minutes back. Give them back time to pop to the toilet, to have a sandwich, to grab a cup of coffee or a cup of tea, or go outside and get a breath of fresh air. Best practice, send a description and an agenda to make sure that people know what the call's about, that you've got the right people on the call, and that you've actually communicated what the outcome is, what it is you want to get from them, so that perhaps they can have a bit of time to prepare, and they can come and bring their A-game to that call. When I think about then, as an attendee, assuming you've done all that correctly as the organizer, then I can really quickly establish whether or not I need to be there. Am I gonna get something from this call or am I going to give something to this call? The answer to at least one of those questions has to be yes. Otherwise, people need to feel empowered to say, you know what, I don't think that I'm the right person to be on this call. And decline it. And it should be okay to decline these calls because we're big and we're adults and we can make a decision as to whether or not we need to be on particular calls or not. Camera on is a big thing. If that means that you have to have a shave or comb your hair or brush your hair or put on makeup, it doesn't matter. But there's nothing worse as somebody running a Zoom call or a Teams to be sitting looking at a load of black squares. Nobody has their cameras on. There's no excuse now, "Oh, I don't want people seeing in my homes." Teams will give you a blur. On Zoom, you can have another background. So there's no real reason not to have cameras on. And for me, it's just respectful for the others on the call. Finally, and probably the biggest question is, as an attendee, are you being present and focused? Because that is a huge problem these days with the dings and the bings and the notifications on Teams and Slack and iPads ads and email and phones and everything else, it's really, really hard to stay focused and in the moment. So a couple of really practical things that you can do. One, get rid of all your tabs. The only tab you should have open is the one that your screen— that your Zoom call is in. Put your Zoom screen on full screen so you can't see the other tabs, so they're hidden. Grab a pen and paper, take some notes. That's a great way to make sure that you're staying engaged. And put away your phone. Take your phone, put it in a drawer, or put it on airplane mode, or leave it in a different room, but just get it away from you because there is an awful, an awfully powerful force there that's dragging us towards the phone all the time, that's getting us to check Insta, or check WhatsApp, or check whatever that's on our phones, and it takes us away from being focused and in the moment on the call in hand. Finally, get involved. So often, you know, I, when I'm running Zoom calls, I'll say, "Anybody got any questions? Anybody have anything to add?" Nobody ever says anything. It's hard for the person who's running the call. It's hard for the other people on the call. So get involved. Ask questions. Make a point. Ask somebody to clarify. Whatever it might be, you've got the power to be a little bit more interactive. So there, this week, a few things to think about as you carry on down the road of remote working and end up doing still tons of VCs, a few little things, a few little practical things maybe to think about. Thanks a million.
