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Net meeting and etiquette: meeting over the net

It already happens in many companies, meetings over the net. This saves costs and makes it possible for colleagues working from home to still attend meetings. Netmeeting will become increasingly important. How do you behave during such a meeting? Are the etiquette rules the same as those of a live meeting or are they a little different?

Netmeeting will play an increasingly important role in the future

Netmeeting will be the future for the modern company. Whether the participant works at home, is with a customer or in the office, he can always join the meeting. Netmeeting is also a solution for meetings where participants have to come from different countries or provinces. It saves travel costs and time. It is also possible to provide and follow training via netmeeting. This means that a teacher can teach students in all corners of the world. This is also a huge cost saving.

Etiquette rules for net meeting

  • Provide a quiet environment with as little background noise as possible. Children playing, a dog barking, a clock chiming, car noises, the radio, try to keep them out as much as possible. They may not bother you, but other participants certainly do.
  • Also try not to make disturbing noises yourself. Don’t shuffle papers, clear your throat or tap with a pencil.
  • Make sure you are on time for the meeting. Just like in a live meeting, latecomers are particularly disruptive. Moreover, arriving on time is also simply a matter of politeness.
  • Try to avoid “double talk”. When several people talk at the same time, this can lead to annoying echoes.
  • Take the delay of the sound into account. Build in a pause at times when you expect interruption in the form of questions or comments. If you want to interrupt, you can make this clear with a hand gesture before you speak. Many modern meeting systems have a “raise your hand” button, which sends a signal to the meeting organizer.
  • Do not take the laptop on your lap, but leave it on the table in front of you. Also do this when you are logged in from home. When you place the laptop on your lap, your nostrils are quite prominently visible and other participants are not interested in that.
  • Focus on the meeting and don’t do anything else. Eating, chewing gum, smoking, checking your phone, and yawning during the meeting is rude and distracting to others.
  • Speak loudly and clearly without shouting.
  • Make sure you can be seen. Avoid too much or too little light. Do not wear narrow stripes (stroboscopic effect) or colorful clothing and ensure a calm background. It is best to wear the same clothes for a web meeting as for a live meeting.
  • When you use a headset during the meeting, your breathing quickly becomes audible. Then avoid deep sighs.

 

Other recommendations for online meetings

  • Use the mute button when another speaker is speaking. This way you prevent sounds from your environment from disrupting the meeting.
  • It is often useful to say your name before you start speaking. This way, other participants also know who is speaking. This is also common in many online meetings.
  • Try to speak clearly and briefly. During online meetings, participants are often more easily distracted.
  • If you are only attending the meeting as an audience member, it is not necessary to leave your camera or microphone on. This way you can listen to the meeting and still do other things without disturbing the meeting.

 

Time zones

With the help of online meetings, the world is becoming smaller and employees from all over the world can communicate with each other without travel time. The only disadvantage to this story is the different time zones, so there is always someone who has to get up early for an online meeting or has to work late. So it’s nice if this can also take place in a home office.