Run Effective Online Meetings with TeamsLink

Top Tips from Microsoft to help you and your customers run successful online meetings with Teams.

Use Video

To make people feel like they’re all at the “same” meeting, use video conferencing rather than traditional conferencing dial-ins.

Provide an audio dial-in option

Video conferencing can work very well, but it relies on a strong internet connection that may not always be available. People need the ability to participate via audio, but make it clear that video-first is the new norm.

Have a little fun (if appropriate)

A little music at the beginning, something in the background of your home office, an “On break back in five minutes” table tent that you put in front of your camera when you take a break are small things, but they go a long way in a virtual meeting.

Use an icebreaker for team meetings

It’s important to use every tool to reinforce interpersonal relationships when people may be feeling isolated. This could be as simple as going around the “room” and asking people how they’re doing or to share something they’re working on.

Minimise presentation length

The only thing worse than a long presentation in person is a long presentation during a virtual meeting. Meetings should be discussions. Background information should be provided beforehand. Prioritise conversation to maximise the time people are looking at each other.

Assign a facilitator

It’s usually harder to manage a virtual discussion than an in-person one. It can be helpful to assign one individual to guide the conversation, allowing the other participants to focus on the content. Especially for more formal meetings.

Call on people

Getting everyone to participate without talking over each other is one of the more challenging aspects of running a virtual meeting. To forestall this, we recommend periodically calling on individuals to speak, even by virtually “going around the table” before a decision is finalised.

Pause often to invite questions

Gathering high-quality input during a virtual meeting can be challenging, especially since visual cues are harder to read and attendees find it difficult to interact. Make sure to pause often and invite questions verbally or in the meeting chat.

Why Teams with Atlas Support?

Enable external voice calling from within your Microsoft Teams client securely and efficiently with TeamsLink from Atlas Support. Make and receive UK, international and mobile calls even with non-Teams contacts with reliable and cost-effective calling bundles.

TeamsLink and Microsoft Teams will give you the power to boost your business into a high-performing, collaborative team allowing you to share files and collaborate on working documents in real-time, with instant messaging built directly into the platform.

TeamsLink gives your business the ability to easily hold online meetings, with your team, or even your customers and prospects no matter where you are. Even if you miss the meeting, have to leave early or have arrived late, you can easily listen to the meeting in your own time as Microsoft Teams can store the recording for you.