Check out my guest post, originally written for Business 2 Community, about the benefits of using video in your office meetings or business conferences :
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Tick. Tock. You wonder, “How much longer until this meeting is over?”
We’ve all been there: stuck in a three-hour meeting, when half the meeting’s content isn’t even relevant to our direct responsibilities (but we’re expected to attend the full meeting, anyway).
Chances are, your team members can relate to this exact situation. As a result, employee morale and focus may dip — meaning that not only is it harder to accomplish your goals for the meeting, but you’re also left with disillusioned, disengaged employees.
Enter the solution: video. By incorporating video in your team meetings, you can keep everyone focused and on task, maximizing productivity as well as engagement.
A Little Less Talk, a Lot More Action
Too often, we think of meetings only as opportunities to present. However, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the opportunity they provide to also gather information. When a meeting becomes one-way, it fast-tracks toward a dark, unproductive place.
Instead, employ a social enterprise strategy — one that focuses on maximizing human and environmental well-being — to foster collaboration and an exchange of ideas. There has been much dialogue around this approach over the past few years; I suppose we can thank salesforce.com for that, but there’s true value in it. Internal videos can help keep a company on the same page by sharing information interdepartmentally and ensuring all moving parts of the company are engaged and not isolated in silos.
Use Your Noodle
People need time to absorb and digest information. By sharing big-picture ideas first in video, you’ll allow your team to muse over the content and provide their thoughts later through comment boards.
In general, there are two types of information that make video the ideal vehicle for communication:
1) High-level concepts: This includes company vision (so people can watch it multiple times and in different contexts), as well as simple training or Q&As. It’s the content in the middle that requires conversation — the things you should discuss in meetings.
2) Growth-related conversation: When growing your company into new areas, video can help a company maintain consistent culture, encourage exclusivity, and report from abroad more easily. For instance, when our company was considering opening a new sales office in San Francisco, we knew we needed the team to be behind the idea. During our exploratory phase, we’d send regular video updates after good sales meetings — and from conferences and events — to add a human element to our company’s efforts. In addition, it fostered a sense of camaraderie with the team at home and allowed them to see the benefits of our efforts and learn about the business culture in San Francisco.
Read the entire post on Business 2 Community
