There's nothing worse that being fully in the zone only to get a 'meeting in 15 mins' notification, destroying focus and resulting in time sucking task switching. To help solve the 'too many meetings' issue we've switched to using Async video wherever possible. This allows us to catch up on what's happening throughout the company in a non-disruptive way, at a time that makes sense for each persons individual workflow. What typically used to involve juggling multiple peoples calendars to land on a convenient meeting time now becomes a process of creating a quick, to-the-point video using Loom, that is shared to relevant team members, no more waiting through irrelevant discussions until your section of the meeting, or being dragged away from important focused work. If we ever need clarification or to chime in with opinions we can create a response video or engage in a quick huddle on a tool like Slack.
Instead of PowerPoint presentations, we've resorted to creating one-page documents that are shared every time a status update is required. These documents are shared to the relevant parties beforehand and any questions are posted on the team's channel on our company's collaboration tool. This way, the audience gets to review and understand the material before the meeting and the project owners get to review and answer questions prior to the meeting. A poll is then conducted amongst the team members to determine if a meeting is necessary or not. We've cut the number of status meetings by an average of 60% across all our departments, and internal surveys indicate that our staff are saving up to four hours per individual every week as a result of having to sit through fewer status meetings.
Our use of voice notes has grown exponentially over the last year. We use voice notes as a way to discuss topics, provide feedback, and even debate ideas without the need for an in-person meeting. We have found it to be a great time saver and more efficient than traditional meetings. Voice notes are also more convenient, as they can be sent at any time and don't require anyone to block out their day for an in-person meeting. It's also a great way to maintain a clear paper trail for accountability purposes, as everything is recorded. We have also seen an increase in engagement from our employees as they feel like their voices are being heard (perhaps literally!), even when their physical presence isn't required for a traditional meeting. It can be quite a fun way to interact too, as we can hear each other's voices and emotions, rather than just reading text messages.
We use Notion a ton to track our projects. We also build our product roadmaps using the platform. It’s user-friendly and it’s easy for us to remain engaged and up-to-date on how everyone is progressing on each task. We rely on Notion for tracking and progress updates and we use Slack for any sort of day-to-day communication. I should point out that we haven’t eliminated face-to-face meetings. We schedule quarterly team meetups because we feel it’s important to get some face-to-face engagements a few times per year. However, our digital tools have allowed us to remain in-the-know on everyone’s progress day after day – and it all starts with Notion.
I replace typical meetings by having innovation sessions. We gather in a room, break into small groups, and each group comes up with one new idea that can help our team work more efficiently or improve our product. The best part is that everyone is encouraged to contribute, even if they don't have a lot of experience with innovation or creativity. And since there's no pressure to come up with the "right" answer, people are more likely to actually participate. Plus, the ideas generated during these sessions often lead to new discussions and projects, so they're a great way to jump-start productivity and creativity.
Over the last couple of years, our meeting style has evolved from lengthy in person sessions, to scheduled Zoom calls, to Slack huddles, to finally, Slack clips. At this point in time, we rely almost exclusively on asynchronous video clips over Slack as our primary means of communicating and syncing up as a team. For one, video has the advantage of being fast to create (as compared to lengthy emails with screengrabs), and is also more engaging to watch. I’m a more active participant with short video clips than lengthy calls or emails. Plus, the fact that Slack clips are asynchronous allows team members to watch on their time and not slow down workflows. Typically, I’ll kick off a subject with a quick clip, then others will jump in with their thoughts over video, which all circulate on a Slack thread. If there is a downside, it’s that sometimes our "clips meetings" can stretch over hours, though when compressed down, they take only a few minutes of my actual time.
As part of our initiative to replace typical meetings, we've started using Slack huddles. Slack's huddle feature allows channel participants to get together and problem-solve as a team without the pressures or conventions of a regular formal meeting. These meetings are audio-based by default, so there's no need to put your camera on. This means that participants can contribute without reading their peers' facial expressions or body language. These behaviors are mentally burdensome, and unconsciously or not, they contribute the most to "Zoom fatigue" and other instances of burnout. For us, huddles have been most effective when the agenda contains fewer items, or those that are less critical in nature. As participants can drop in and out at their own discretion, the meeting environment feels like more of a casual chat with colleagues. Without time constraints, participants can develop ideas and collaborate on strategies at their own pace, and do so in a seamless and intuitive manner.
We stopped having the first introduction meeting to a project in person. Instead, we use a shared document to start off all projects. The project manager will outline the project and put their initial ideas on an editable document. There is a bunch of services like google docs, Microsoft 365, and dropbox paper that all have this feature. Everyone on the project will update the document with their ideas or plan. This saves from 2-3 meetings and expedites the whole project and everything is down in writing on the shared document. It's easier on everyone's schedule because they don't all have to meet at one time and skips a bunch of meetings.
We’ve replaced feedback-heavy meetings with online surveys instead. We can build them quickly in Google Forms and send them off to stakeholders to fill out. While we can’t eliminate every meeting, we use these forms to reduce the unnecessary ones and foster more effective meetings by planning with important data already in hand. In addition, since our team can answer when the time fits their schedule, forms have boosted our overall productivity and given shy participants a more comfortable channel to share their ideas and feedback.
Manager at Talentify
Answered 3 years ago
We have implemented a culture of asynchronicity once work flexibility is core to our team's development strategy. Since then, a virtual agent represents the most efficient and cost-effective way to cope with the new reality. This technology was developed to automate and integrate phone and chat services, notes, agendas, and boards. All this is possible thanks to the integration of Artificial Intelligence. Virtual agents can understand employees' needs and present a precise solutions.
Loom videos have been a popular replacement for standard meetings at The Word Counter. By recording an informative clip and sharing it with the company, we avoid the sometimes tricky task of scheduling a meeting everyone can attend. With a Loom video, our team can view and learn important information while not being distracted from their daily duties.
With the world shifting online due to Zoom meetings, our team has come up with unique ways to replicate in-person meetings. We created a Powerpoint “party” where each member of the team was asked to create an appealing Powerpoint presentation on the topic we were discussing. This allowed everyone to be involved and deepened conversations since we were able to see ideas unfold as PowerPoint were shared visually. Our Powerpoint motto is to keep it interesting, and effective and follow the “KISS” rule - Keep It, Super Simple. We have used this method for several meetings now, and it helps us stay connected while being virtually apart.
Hi there, My name is Rob Reeves, and I'm the CEO and President of Redfish Technology, a recruiting firm specializing in engineering, sales, and marketing roles within the tech sector. While so much of the adjustment to the Covid-19 pandemic involved new software and apps to bridge location differences, my team went in a different direction. Outdoor meetings. Once the science made it clear that transmission rates outdoors were negligible, we started a hiking group to ensure our team stayed connected. At first, it was just for recreation, but over time, the habit grew into brainstorming sessions, lead sharing, and end-of-quarter meetings. We're all techies, so we don't eschew the latest software -- it helps us run our business effectively. But don't let screens completely replace human interaction. There is something powerful in meeting face-to-face outside the office setting. Name: Rob Reeves Title: CEO and President Company: Redfish Technology Website: https://www.redfishtech.com/
Tools such as Slack allow teams to interact with each other, discuss a certain topic on common channels and even have private chats for one on one meetings. By integrating this great channel of communication with other project sharing tools such as Google docs, excel sheets or easily assigning tools, or makes it so much easier for teams to collaborate and work together without having to conduct an actual meeting.
One of the most effective strategies we've used in our business to reduce the need for meetings, team calls, and even one-on-one video calls is by using Loom to share ideas via quick screenshare videos. This tool is often the quickest way to share a lot of information with either one person or a group of people. It also works great for explaining complex topics or ideas which need some kind of demonstration - usually a screen recording or whiteboard. This takes a little getting used to but after a while it's surprising just how much time a team can save by reducing the number of meetings as much as possible. Ryan Turner Founder, EcommerceIntelligence.com https://www.ecommerceintelligence.com/
An excellent alternative to in-person meetings has to be asynchronous videos. In my experience, not every conference has to be held in person. There are certain circumstances when the conventional style of meetings is simply not a viable solution. Here’s where asynchronous videos come in. With the help of this form of communication, people can keep themselves informed about the latest updates via a prerecorded video. The video is then scheduled for a set time so that the relevant people can access its content. This form of communication is not time-sensitive, adding to the ease of employees. This is also a great alternative to live video conferences, as the issue of video or sound quality does not interfere with the meeting itself.
Our company has replaced typical meetings with Hive. It is best for communication and collaborative conferences. On Hive, team members can share regular information and updates. Then, everyone can track and scrutinize the work. Hive also has other features like Hive Chat and Hive Notes. With Hive Chat, one can discuss issues with one's team. They can also make decisions quickly, highlight them, and get feedback. Likewise, Hive Notes takes meeting notes in the meetings. Then, responsibilities and tasks can get assigned to team members. Hive enhances teamwork by offering features like timesheets and time tracking. There will be team resourcing and management of the timeline and workload. If a team wants to track projects, it can utilize resources like alerts of projects issue. They can also get updates on project status and track objectives and milestones.
We have replaced typical meetings with a variety of virtual tools, such as video conferencing, virtual whiteboarding, voice memos, and virtual collaboration platforms. Video conferencing allows people from different locations to connect and collaborate in real time. It allows for face-to-face communication, sharing of documents and presentations, and instant messaging. Video conferencing is a great way to replace traditional meetings and allows for more efficient communication and collaboration. It also allows for more collaboration across time zones, which can be beneficial for remote teams. Virtual whiteboarding is a digital tool that allows users to collaborate and brainstorm on a whiteboard from any location. It allows multiple users to share ideas, draw diagrams, and sketch out designs in real-time, without the need for physical whiteboards or markers. It's a great tool for remote teams to work together and visualize their ideas.
Cybersecurity Analyst at Security Tech
Answered 3 years ago
While Zoom meetings boomed in 2020, I encountered a lot of problems with video conferencing. So I went backward, and get on conference calls with my clients. It achieves the same thing without the distraction of worrying about how your face looks on camera. For me, it allows me to really hone in on the conversation, and is a much better form of communication than video calls. Name: Eric Florence Website: https://securitytech.org/ Title: Cybersecurity Consultant, and Entrepreneur
Seeing as how our entire business revolves around podcasting, creating a virtual library of podcasts only made sense. From talking about the latest company updates, tracking our team's progress on every project, and giving our employees shoutouts for a job well done — company podcasts have seamlessly replaced virtual meetings and all the technical difficulties that come with them. Moreover, they give our workforce the time to really absorb the information and revisit it at a later time too.