There is no doubt that the last few months of the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to the rise of virtual meetings. While it might seem like online meetings would make holding discussions or developing processes disjointed, there are several advantages of virtual meetings – especially when gathering in person is difficult or impossible.

Many condo boards have recognized the importance of meeting virtually to keep the board, owners, management, and service providers informed on next steps, decisions, and actions. Whichever platform your corporation has chosen to use, the following advantages of virtual meetings will help ensure progress when physical distancing is encouraged or required.

1. Virtual meetings accomplish the tasks and processes that wouldn’t otherwise be possible

As the phases of reopening are varied, the option of meeting in person might not be a possibility, or desire, for every board. For condominiums in particular, this raises concerns around the ability to not only hold board meetings but also other larger and equally important gatherings such as town hall meetings or annual general meetings (AGMs). Virtual platforms overcome the physical obstacles by allowing those meetings to take place anyway and for decision-making processes to move forward in an informed and timely fashion.

Without virtual meetings, board meetings and owners’ meetings might not be possible. This results in your board putting off decisions and actions that need to be addressed now. Therefore, one of the key benefits of virtual meetings is that they allow those next steps to take place and for tasks to be accomplished that could not otherwise be completed when in-person meetings are challenging or out of the question.

2. Virtual meetings are effective and efficient

Virtual meetings make the decision-making process more productive and efficient. Sometimes progress can only be achieved with regular verbal and visual check-ins and ongoing communication — a tangled e-mail thread amongst board members and management just won’t cut it. Virtual meetings keep things moving.

Especially when accompanied by an agenda, a virtual meeting tends to keep attendees focused. Although online attention spans can be shorter, this creates a sense of urgency to efficiently address the agenda. There is less table talk and more productive conversation and streamlined decision-making — boards can concentrate on action items and execute them effectively. Face-to-face online conversations between team members keep the flow of decisions and actions moving forward and keep organizations and boards up-to-date and on track.

3. Virtual meetings are cost-effective

In this time of financial difficulty, most corporations are seeking savings wherever possible. One of the most important benefits of virtual meetings is their ability to significantly lower overhead costs, including expenses related to travel, venue rental, and the refreshments typically provided at in-person meetings. Additionally, virtual meetings can lead to a reduction in meeting materials and office expenses. For instance, hard copies of documents, which are often printed for in-person gatherings, can be substituted with electronic copies presented virtually using screen-sharing features. This approach is not only cost-effective but also very environmentally friendly.

4. Virtual meetings are universally accessible

The accessibility of virtual meetings is second to none and ensures that all the people who need to attend can do so. All one needs is a device with an internet connection (e.g., smartphone, tablet, or computer) or an old-fashioned telephone.

Another of the many benefits of virtual meetings is that they open the opportunity for additional parties to easily attend. This could include other teams within your corporation, service providers, or your minute-taker, if you use an external vendor. The accessibility of virtual meetings is reason enough to take your discussions online to ensure that those who need to participate can and are comfortable doing so.

Conclusion: The organization that meets together stays together

The changes to the way meetings are being conducted right now don’t mean that your processes will be ineffective. Take your meetings online to keep your corporation on track and moving forward through good virtual communication to allow for streamlined discussions and decision-making. The cost-saving and accessibility benefits of virtual meetings facilitate these needs, and they are key elements in maintaining the viability of your team as you move through challenging times together.

Virtual Minute Taking

Like lots of things lately, communication as we know it has changed and virtual meetings have gone from a begrudged necessity to the comfortable new norm across the corporate landscape. With lots of the commonly experienced technical difficulties ironed out over the last year, organizations are now finding that their processes can carry on as normal despite the limitations on gathering in-person. In fact, lots of businesses have found that many of their processes have actually improved due to the en-masse introduction of virtual and hybrid meetings.

This is because online technology has flexibility and staying power: the convenience of meeting virtually wherever participants are located physically will stick around post-pandemic and complement face-to-face gatherings even after restrictions are lifted.

And it won’t just be a choice between meeting in-person or virtually — the technology expands the meeting possibilities to include a hybrid option as well, allowing for a combination of both.

There are many benefits for going fully virtual with meetings or utilizing a hybrid approach, so let’s explore the differences between the two.

All Virtual

Firstly, an all virtual meeting means that every participant logs in to the meeting and attends remotely. They can do so from anywhere in the world and thanks to the pandemic, this has become commonplace across many industries and businesses.

The advantages of virtual meetings are many and as a result, they will likely dictate post-pandemic professional gatherings. With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of going fully virtual.

More flexibility for scheduling. Before virtual meetings became commonplace, attendees often experienced scheduling difficulties — participants were expected to be on-site, for example, sometimes well outside regular office hours. Now it’s as simple as dialing in from home where you are able to simply log in after dinner, hold the meeting, and still have family time afterward.

And with participants dialing in from their homes or preferred work locations, it has never been easier to reschedule should a last-minute conflict arise for one of the key members. Availability in general has also increased, which has consequently facilitated further flexibility.

Always start on time. Eliminating the commute to a meeting also increases the chances of them starting on time. Traffic jams or half-eaten meals are no longer issues — you’re already at your workspace and you’re covered. (You may, however, want to keep your video off while you finish breakfast).

Increased efficiency. People love to chat when gathering face-to-face, which can slow the decision-making process and decrease efficiency during a meeting, especially for a larger conference. Virtual interaction has become so popular in the past year for both the personal and business realms that online work meetings now tend to cut right to the chase. This is down to the fact that if we’re going to spend extra time on a video chat, we likely want this time to be spent with loved ones.

Dial in from anywhere. Perhaps the most obvious of all of the advantages of going fully virtual for meetings is that attendees can take part from anywhere in the world. This makes accessibility incredibly simple and most online platforms even provide the option to dial in via telephone if you’ve really gone off the grid and are without Wi-Fi. This makes meeting attendance possible from anywhere with nothing more required than a phone line.

An influx of new knowledge. After nearly a year of restricted physical contact, even the most tech-reluctant now have some comfort level with engaging online, whether for work or personal socializing with family or friends. These technological skills now go beyond virtual meetings and add up to a better understanding of computers overall. This boost in general computer literacy will inevitably lead to increased productivity in the workplace whether you’re at home or in the office.

Share screens, save trees. An ecologically friendly approach to business is something that is growing in importance in the modern era. With screen-sharing becoming the new normal when discussing documents in online meetings, hard copies of reports and supplementary materials have become obsolete in favour of digital copies and counterparts. Paper waste is reduced when our minds are trained to accept these documents in their virtual form, which is fast becoming the norm in society.

Hybrid Meetings

Of course, there are still lots of scenarios in which face-to-face interaction is beneficial. Enter the hybrid meeting — a combination of virtual and in-person contact and a form of meeting that in turn, utilizes the benefits of both. But what does a hybrid approach to business communication look like and when should you use it?

Guests dial in. The organization’s key players are able to physically distance together in a large conference room while guests such as industry experts or those conducting virtual minute taking can dial in via teleconference. This helps to limit all in-person interaction to essential participants only which is often required, especially in recent months.

Site visits. Some projects require industry professionals, such as engineers or technicians, to investigate on-site issues, provide recommendations, and undertake critical work that is simply impossible to carry out virtually. When multiple eyes must be on a project, an in-person exploration by one individual with the remaining meeting participants attending by video chat can get the job done effectively.

AGMs. Some routine decisions to be made during an AGM are a no brainer for the virtual platform, while other more sensitive or important decisions such as the election of new board members for example, can benefit from a personal touch. This is where a hybrid AGM can make sense: features such as the approval of the previous AGM minutes and presentation of the president’s report can occur virtually, while voting and the question-and-answer portion can be held in-person. When the weather improves, hybrid meetings will be even more desirable. There will also be many opportunities for outdoor physical distancing for larger meetings or for items requiring in-person discussion or a vote.

One Last Key Ingredient

Even though comfort with online meetings has increased across the board, the proceedings always need at least one individual who knows the technology inside-out and can take the lead on logistics. Particularly for a major meeting such as an AGM, if your organization doesn’t have an in-house tech guru, consider using a professional virtual meeting platform whose services include providing an experienced and capable moderator.

A meeting plagued by tech issues can make your organization appear unprofessional and incompetent. Even worse, with an absence of dedicated software and an objective third party monitoring the proceedings, important decisions that require a vote could be misrepresented or mishandled, which could put your organization in legal jeopardy. Be sure to reserve your professional platform well ahead of time, though – it’s common for the schedules of virtual governance platforms to be filled months in advance.

The Future of Board Meetings – A Summary

To summarize, the future of board meetings is a virtual future, and one that embraces and works with the changes brought about due to the pandemic. The advantages of going at least somewhat virtual are hard to ignore and the simplicity of either a fully virtual or utilizing a hybrid approach means that it’s a bit of a no-brainer for most businesses.

With benefits to participants and businesses on a wider scale such as increased accessibility and flexibility, reduced environmental costs and travel costs, better engagement, and more, virtual and hybrid approaches look set to dominate the boardroom for years to come.

Get in Touch with Minutes Solutions

Minutes Solutions Inc. provides virtual minute taking and transcriptional services for organizations of all kinds. Our team are highly skilled and well-trained when it comes to virtual minute taking and we approach every task with high levels of accuracy and professionalism, working strictly to your requirements and timescales.

To find out more about our virtual minute taking or transcriptional services we provide, or to receive a free quote, please get in touch today. And to book a meeting or view your current meetings, visit our Client Portal.

 

Virtual technology has greatly increased the options for taking part in meetings. It’s hard to believe there was a time when we were relegated to only meeting in-person. The possibilities for meeting are now virtually endless — pun intended. Even before the new reality of COVID-19 and social distancing, many organizations had largely moved to virtual meetings to promote engagement, flexibility, traffic reduction, and time optimization, to name just a few advantages.

We have seen our clients migrate in this direction since now — and for the immediate future — virtual meetings are essentially the only option. At first the choices can be overwhelming, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the technology. We have outlined some of the most versatile virtual solutions that are available to everyone. Before using any of the options below, make sure you are doing your own research to learn about each platform and picking the one that works best for your organization.

Online Meeting

Real-time virtual meetings are an excellent alternative to in-person meetings and are easily facilitated through a wide variety of online software platforms. A good option for virtual board meetings is webinar software. This option also works well for AGMs and other owners’ meetings as this software typically has a chat window for viewers to pose questions in real time or to virtually “put up their hand”.

Good choices of conferencing/webinar software are:

• • Zoom Meetings
  • Google Meet
  • GoToWebinar
  • GetQuorum (Full “white glove” service for virtual AGMs)

 

Full-Service Solution

Minutes Solutions’s full-service virtual meeting option takes care of all the scheduling and hosting details for you. We organize the meeting with a virtual link and a dial-in number, invite your attendees, assign a minute taker, and then hand the meeting over to you.

Phone Call/Conference Call

One of our recording secretaries can call into a direct phone line, or a bridged conference line, in order to attend and create the minutes remotely.

Recorded Meetings

Most virtual solutions for hosting meetings have a “record” capability. If you record the meeting, we can convert the recording into a comprehensive set of minutes.

Equipment and Meeting Preparation

With the new normal we are all trying to navigate, meeting virtually is something that must play a major role. For a high-quality, virtual broadcast, you will need a laptop or smartphone with a strong Internet connection. And of course, structure and planning are just as imperative for successful virtual meetings as they are for in-person ones.