Video meeting netiquette

For experienced videomeeting participants, some of the following tips may seem trivial, but experience shows that even the seemingly obvious can be forgotten. Here are a few video meeting etiquette tips from our expert Petra Vogt.
Avoid meeting traps during the meeting

Punctuality – (no academic fifteen minutes)

Everyone finds it annoying to have to wait for late participants. So make sure you join the meeting on time, ideally a minute or two before the video conference starts.

#Tip: If you have many back-to-back meetings, remember to set up spacing and breaks.

Mute yourself and avoid background noise.

Background entertainment and disruptive noise are irritating. Therefore, mute yourself if you don’t have a contribution for a long time, or if a lengthy presentation from a colleague/client, etc. is expected.

Another #NOGO is eating during a meeting – except of course the informal  gatherings

No multi-tasking

Your attention – should be just as dedicated to the event as in a “normal meeting”. Resist the temptation to write a quick email or browse the internet.

Just smile

Smile when you speak, it makes your voice sound more personable.

Keep it short and sweet
Online meetings are best kept shorter than real meetings. Since you’re not sitting face-to-face, your attention level drops more quickly – the more participants there are, the more serious the effect: so it’s better to keep meetings short and meet more often!

And last but not least: Let them finish

Let other participants speak. Letting people finish is good manners. Endless monologues can, however, be interrupted with interposed questions. The most polite way to interrupt someone is with a closed question about the topic.