New year, new you, new goals for your venture to grow! Whether you’re a solopreneur looking to ramp up your client intake or a small business eager to scale, the start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to set achievable goals and hit them out of the park; starting with how you present yourself and your brand to the world.
Every business, established and budding, has a communications strategy in place to ensure projects are on track and collaboration is top-notch. This year, feel confident knowing your online meetings are up to par with technology that’s reliable, effective and convenient. After all, you’ve got a business to run and there are only so many hours in a day. Let some of the menial digital tasks like scheduling, note-taking, invitations and more become less of a hassle to carry out.
Not only will you be able to accomplish more in the workday, using technology as a platform to support how work gets done accurately, on time and with cohesion, will shine a positive light on your brand. Here’s how to take your offline meetings online, and appear more professional and polished this coming year:
Look Great Hosting OnlineWhen in-person meetings aren’t logistically possible, an online meeting is a second-best option. Gradually, you’ll notice that they’re not simply a stand-in for a meeting in person, an online meeting might just become your gold standard. Hosting a virtual meeting means cutting out transportation costs, saving time with less commuting, the option to work from home when the weather is unpredictable, and so much more.
Online meetings also come with a multitude of features that help make virtual syncs smooth and effective. With the video conferencing feature, any online meeting can be recorded and shared later for those who couldn't make it or for those who want to relive the highlight reel. The screen sharing feature comes in handy for hosts who are training or leading participants through dense and detailed material that requires visual elements. These features assist in making any online meeting – whether a briefing or an educational tutorial, troubleshooting session or webinar – more inclusive and easy to follow along.
Furthermore, online meetings come equipped with a transcription tool that takes the hassle and pain of note-taking completely out of the equation. Participants can save themselves the back and forth of writing and listening during an important discussion by reviewing a detailed transcription of the online meeting’s exchanges. With timestamps, dates, auto-tagging and speaker names, each sync is logged for easy searching and finding. No idea or quote or important address gets left behind when everything is neatly packaged and included for quick access and future reference. Participants are left with a meeting “leave behind” that has all relevant discussion points listed.
Online meetings that implement Custom Hold Music are proven to retain listeners. Rather than being left on the line in silence and confusion, this small but mighty feature packs a punch. Every multinational brand has some form of music or message put in place while listeners are on the call. It takes the waiting out being on hold, enhances the mood, makes participants feel welcome and functions as a cue for when the call is about to begin. It’s a small luxury that is a thoughtful reflection of your brand and makes a difference when it comes to being considerate of listeners’ time.
The beauty of hosting an online meeting is that they break the boundaries of space and time. Regardless of where you are or who you’re speaking to, a toll-free dial-in number gives you the power to make international calls locally. Your business immediately appears more professional-looking with a 1-800 number that connects participants to a session. Plus, with no long-distance rates or mobile charges, online meetings stay cost-effective and convenient.
Impress With A Set AgendaWhile engaged in an online meeting, it’s important to make the most out of the session by creating a loose outline and sticking to it. Keep in mind simple etiquette like staying on topic, keeping time of the meeting, saving questions to the end, inviting only necessary people to the meeting, etc. Scheduling an online meeting can be impromptu or done ahead of time. Either way, it only takes a few clicks to fire out invites and log-in info. If you need to reschedule, save the date, cancel or postpone, everything is done with automatic invitations and reminders.
Let FreeConference.com make your online meetings come across as more polished and refined, no matter the size of your solopreneur or enterprise venture. Equipped with multiple features like recording, transcription, screen sharing and so much more that squeeze the most value out of every encounter, you can expect your business to be taken seriously. Enjoy better collaboration and more productivity with every online meeting this year, and for the next decade.
Create your FreeConference.com account and get access to everything you need for your business or organization to hit the ground running, like video and Screen Sharing, Call Scheduling, Automated Email Invitations, Reminders, and more.
