<ul>
<li><strong>Saying "go ahead" when you're overlapping with someone.</strong> Going out of your way to let other people speak is a good thing, and so is following up to make sure everyone’s been heard.</li>
<li><strong>Schedule time for socializing</strong>. People should be encouraged to show up a few minutes early for a meeting, maybe, or there could be time for conversation on the agenda. </li>
<li><strong>Accept multitasking</strong>. Maybe workers in the office should have the option to call in to auditoriums and conference rooms, or maybe we should just normalize people who aren’t core to a conversation working on their laptops during meetings. </li>
<li><strong>Maybe have fewer meetings</strong>. Meetings can eat up a lot of time, and it’s worth considering whether that time is well invested—or if you could accomplish the same thing without a meeting.</li>
</ul>

4 lessons from remote meetings

<h2>Zapier’s Justin Pot says as people start transitioning back into the office, I hope they’ll take some of the lessons they learned from online meetings to improve the in-person ones.
</h2><figure><picture><source media="(max-width: 40em)"><img width="705" height="396" alt="4 lessons from remote meetings we should definitely bring back to the office" srcset="https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_562, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/ar_16:9, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/c_fill, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/g_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/f_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/q_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2021/09/poster-video-tips-to-bring-back-to-the-office.jpg 562w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_937, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/ar_16:9, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/c_fill, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/g_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/f_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/q_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2021/09/poster-video-tips-to-bring-back-to-the-office.jpg 937w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_1153, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/ar_16:9, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/c_fill, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/g_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/f_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/q_auto, https://www.fastcompany.com/90679760/fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2021/09/poster-video-tips-to-bring-back-to-the-office.jpg 1153w"></picture></figure><div class="caption" dir="ltr">[Source Photo: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-women-standing-beside-brown-board-on-wall-3184296/" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">Fauxels</a>/Pexels]
</div><div dir="ltr"><cite dir="ltr">By Justin Pot—Zapier </cite><span dir="ltr">5 minute Read</span></div><p dir="ltr">2020 changed work—possibly forever. Millions of people started&nbsp;<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/transitioning-to-remote-work-in-a-hurry/" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">working remotely for the first time</a>, and they learned it’s not quite the same as working in an office. I’ve worked remotely since 2009, and I’ve spent a lot of that time thinking about the etiquette of remote meetings, answering questions like<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/when-to-mute-video-calls/" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">&nbsp;when you should mute during a video call</a>.</p><div>advertisement</div><p>But as people start transitioning back into the office, I hope they’ll take some of the lessons they learned from online meetings to improve the in-person ones. Here are four video meeting rules that I think should follow us back to the office.</p><h2>1. Say “go ahead” when you overlap with someone</h2><p>Have you ever tried singing with someone over Zoom? Me neither, but regardless, it’s not really possible. The problem is lag.</p><p>Lag, the gap between when you start talking and when everyone else can hear you, is somewhat inevitable in video calls. The result: people talk over each other without meaning to. I’ve noticed a pattern—an improvised etiquette—that’s evolved in response to lag in meetings. It goes like this:</p><div>advertisement</div><UL><LI><p>Two or more people start talking at the same time.</p></LI><LI><p>After a second, they both notice this is happening and stop talking.</p></LI><LI><p>One or both people say “go ahead” to the other.</p></LI><LI><p>One person goes ahead and makes their point.</p></LI><LI><p>This person, when done, asks the other person what they wanted to say.</p></LI></UL><p>It’s such a small thing, but I’ve seen it happen organically in several different contexts: work, church, Zoom happy hours. There are variations. Sometimes it’s another person entirely who follows up to make sure everyone gets a turn, for example. Still, the pattern is fairly consistent, and it works pretty well.</p><p dir="ltr">And the best part is that many of the people doing this aren’t even aware of what “lag” is. They’re just responding to the limitations of the tech in a way that feels natural. There’s no lag in real life, of course, but I think this habit should stick around regardless. At least, the&nbsp;<i dir="ltr">intention</i>&nbsp;behind it should stick around.</p><p>In my experience, people don’t really work to follow up on missed points during in-person meetings, and when two people start talking at the same time, one person gets to keep talking—the other doesn’t. Going out of your way to let other people speak is a good thing, and so is following up to make sure everyone’s been heard.</p><div>advertisement</div><h2>2. Schedule time for socializing</h2><p dir="ltr">There’s an awkward gap at the beginning of every video meeting. You know what I’m talking about: those couple of minutes where everyone is trying to log in and/or figure out why their microphone isn’t working. This is why, at Zapier, we generally don’t formally “start” meetings until a few minutes after the scheduled time. This creates an improvised time for socializing, which<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-make-meetings-fun/" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">&nbsp;makes video meetings more fun</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">Some teams go further. Our content marketing team schedules an optional water cooler conversation after monthly meetings so that we can all catch up. I’ve seen similar formats evolve in other organizations, and like<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/waving-on-video-calls/" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">&nbsp;waving at the end of video calls</a>, a few minutes of scheduled socializing is a good way to fit a little bit of humanity into a virtual work environment that can be alienating.</p><p>But you know what? Offices can also be alienating and could also use some humanity. Most in-person meetings start with informal conversation, but intentionally allowing space for this will still be important as people get used to seeing each other again. People should be encouraged to show up a few minutes early for a meeting, maybe, or there could be time for conversation on the agenda. We’ve all spent the past year or so learning how hard it is to feel cut off from each other, and I hope that changes how we interact in person.</p><div>advertisement</div><p>Take a few minutes to see how people are doing—it’s worth it.</p>

Zapier’s Justin Pot says as people start transitioning back into the office, I hope they’ll take some of the lessons they learned from online meetings to improve the in-person ones.


remotework

Remote Work

career

Career

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

Zapier’s Justin Pot says as people start transitioning back into the office, I hope they’ll take some of the lessons they learned from online meetings to improve the in-person ones.

<p>2020 changed work—possibly forever. Millions of people started <a href="https://zapier.com/blog/transitioning-to-remote-work-in-a-hurry/">working remotely for the first time </a>, and they learned it’s not quite the same as working in an office. I’ve worked remotely since 2009, and I’ve spent a lot of that time thinking about the etiquette of remote meetings, answering questions like<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/when-to-mute-video-calls/"> when you should mute during a video call </a>. </p>

<p>But as people start transitioning back into the office, I hope they’ll take some of the lessons they learned from online meetings to improve the in-person ones. Here are four video meeting rules that I think should follow us back to the office. </p>

1. Say “go ahead” when you overlap with someone

<p>Have you ever tried singing with someone over Zoom? Me neither, but regardless, it’s not really possible. The problem is lag. </p>

<p>Lag, the gap between when you start talking and when everyone else can hear you, is somewhat inevitable in video calls. The result: people talk over each other without meaning to. I’ve noticed a pattern—an improvised etiquette—that’s evolved in response to lag in meetings. It goes like this: </p>

<ul><li><p>Two or more people start talking at the same time. </p> </li><li><p>After a second, they both notice this is happening and stop talking. </p> </li><li><p>One or both people say “go ahead” to the other. </p> </li><li><p>One person goes ahead and makes their point. </p> </li><li><p>This person, when done, asks the other person what they wanted to say. </p> </li> </ul>

<p>It’s such a small thing, but I’ve seen it happen organically in several different contexts: work, church, Zoom happy hours. There are variations. Sometimes it’s another person entirely who follows up to make sure everyone gets a turn, for example. Still, the pattern is fairly consistent, and it works pretty well. </p>

<p>And the best part is that many of the people doing this aren’t even aware of what “lag” is. They’re just responding to the limitations of the tech in a way that feels natural. There’s no lag in real life, of course, but I think this habit should stick around regardless. At least, the <i>intention </i> behind it should stick around. </p>

<p>In my experience, people don’t really work to follow up on missed points during in-person meetings, and when two people start talking at the same time, one person gets to keep talking—the other doesn’t. Going out of your way to let other people speak is a good thing, and so is following up to make sure everyone’s been heard. </p>

<p>There’s an awkward gap at the beginning of every video meeting. You know what I’m talking about: those couple of minutes where everyone is trying to log in and/or figure out why their microphone isn’t working. This is why, at Zapier, we generally don’t formally “start” meetings until a few minutes after the scheduled time. This creates an improvised time for socializing, which<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-make-meetings-fun/"> makes video meetings more fun </a>. </p>

<p>Some teams go further. Our content marketing team schedules an optional water cooler conversation after monthly meetings so that we can all catch up. I’ve seen similar formats evolve in other organizations, and like<a href="https://zapier.com/blog/waving-on-video-calls/"> waving at the end of video calls </a>, a few minutes of scheduled socializing is a good way to fit a little bit of humanity into a virtual work environment that can be alienating. </p>

<p>But you know what? Offices can also be alienating and could also use some humanity. Most in-person meetings start with informal conversation, but intentionally allowing space for this will still be important as people get used to seeing each other again. People should be encouraged to show up a few minutes early for a meeting, maybe, or there could be time for conversation on the agenda. We’ve all spent the past year or so learning how hard it is to feel cut off from each other, and I hope that changes how we interact in person. </p>

<p>Take a few minutes to see how people are doing—it’s worth it. </p>

4 lessons from remote meetings we should definitely bring back to the office

4 lessons from remote meetings

CURATED BY

Related collections

More like this