How To Make Your Meeting All Inclusive
One of the hardest things for businesses to do is to
communicate with their employees
and their audience when people are working from home. Remote working has taken much of the personalization out of the office and in-person communication has changed. When it comes to meeting as a team, you want to make sure that it’s delivered in a way that engages your staff and makes sense for your business at the same time. There are plenty of options to ensure that you can all get online, with a range of platforms and choices to use.
Every single business has different needs to consider when they are making their meetings inclusive for all. You want to make a start with a webinar or a platform that allows everything from video and audio to screen sharing and collaboration. You want to make your meetings all-inclusive so that every single person you invite can have the chance to be involved in the conversation. Below, we’ve got some of the best practices that you can use to host a virtual meeting that includes all.
- Keep a list of ground rules in place for your meeting. Whether this is the first remote meeting you’ve ever had or you have half the team in the office and half at home, you need to maintain some ground rules so that all online are going to be able to be a part of the meeting. These include things like encouraging attendees to show their faces rather than hide behind a black screen, and keeping all audio muted unless presenting a question or answering one. Background noise is then not a distraction when people are talking. You should also make a point of recording the meeting so that you and your employees can go back and watch it.
- Break the ice. Some of your employees may have never spoken to one another when they’ve been working remotely. One of the best things that you can do is make sure that you break the ice between them all. You want to ensure that unfamiliar folks get familiar with each other, and that means playing games and mixing it up a little for the questions. There’s also the option to pass the mic to each other to hear new responses after someone speaks.
- Make sure that you offer a structure. Your meetings should be structured in a way that makes sense for all the attendees, with a plan emailed out to everyone in advance. This way, you can ensure everyone is aware of the expectations of them through the meeting. Using the ‘hands up’ feature on the video platform you’re using is going to help you to keep your meeting structured with an opportunity for all to speak.
- Stay on track. Whatever your meeting is about, make sure that you have a clear agenda and keep the conversation on the right track. You need it to be on time and staying the course is a good way to keep things moving smoothly.

