March 24, 2020
Practicing Zoom Etiquette
Most of our Extension professionals have had a multitude of Zoom meetings this past week as we all try to adapt to the working environments that the COVID-19 outbreak has put us in. After participating in four Zoom meetings in one day for a total of seven hours it became apparent that we all need a reminder about some basic etiquette for video conferencing. This past week gave us an opportunity to practice the mechanics of the Zoom system and learn more than we ever thought we would need to know. However, before moving to using this as a meeting and program delivery vehicle with our external audiences please take some time to review what Stanford University has prepared.
This guide includes tips to help you:
• Prepare for the meeting- including sending notices and setting up the meeting room
• Communicate effectively-when beginning the meeting and during the meeting
• Minimize body movements-being visually engaged
• Work effectively with video conferencing technology-including audio and video
For the complete article, go to: https://uit.stanford.edu/videoconferencing/meeting-etiquette.
My take away from last week’s experiences is that just as we can have too many face to face meetings we can also have an overabundance of virtual meetings. So do not forget to ask, "was a meeting really necessary?" This form of communication appears to be the “new normal” for the next several weeks so-Happy Zooming!