When a group of people needs to discuss a project and finds it difficult to meet in person, web meetings are a blessing to their productivity. However, like with any activity in the office, there are various distractions around you that can affect your productivity in web meetings.
The next time you have to have an online meeting, keep the following tips in mind and those distractions will be nothing but memories!
Open doors invite people inside. Close your office door when you are in web meetings!
Are you in an office or conference room where you can close the door? Noise and chatter from the rest of the office can make it harder to hear the people on the other ends of your web meetings. Also, an open door may encourage people to come in and talk to you, further distracting your web meetings. You can minimize the distraction even more by posting a notice on the outside of the closed door saying you are in a meeting. This way, people are unlikely to disturb you!
If you are unable to close the door, try putting on headphones instead. Headphones help you focus on the people in your web meeting. This is because they help to minimize any background noise from other people in your office. Headphones also serve a second purpose. Similar to how a closed door indicates you are busy, headphones make it less likely that other people will disturb you unless it is important.
Web meetings are convenient, there’s no question about that. However, many people know how distracting their computers can be, especially when they consider what the Internet offers. When you are participating in this kind of meeting, put it on full screen! This way, you are unable to open new tabs in your Internet browser and succumb to the distractions it offers, such as Facebook, Instagram, and other websites.
If you are unable to go completely full screen, or if you will need access to another program in connection with your web meeting, at least make your meeting window as big as you can. The fewer things you have open on your screen, the lower your distractions will be.
Turn off your notifications. You can answer the email when your meeting is over!
Many people have their computers and cell phones set to notify them when they receive a text message, phone call, or email, among other things. Most of the time, these only serve as distractions during web meetings. You can likely wait until you are finished before you answer that email, phone call, or text message. Before you start, turn off what you can. If you cannot turn something off, at least shut off the notifications or put them on silent.
If there are only certain websites that usually distract you rather than everything, use your browser to your advantage. Block all of the websites that take your attention away from web meetings while you are on a call. Even if you think you can resist temptation, making it impossible to access the distraction ensures that it is gone. In fact, even trying to resist the temptation when you know you could go on Facebook, for example, can distract you from a web meeting.
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