Hi, my name is Brandon Mammano and I am a member of cohort 10 of the Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute.
I’m here to talk about the book “Suddenly Virtual, Making Remote Meetings Work” by Karin M. Reed and Joseph A. Allen.
This is a very useful and informative book that can be used as a practical guide to help businesses and employees discover ways to make virtual meetings and work in general easier and more effective.
The book is littered with tools designed to help employees “adopt and adapt” ways to conduct business virtually. They include checklists, try this sections, case studies, chapter takeaways, and reflection activities. All of these tools were honestly very useful to me as I was reading this book because they allowed me to understand new learning points that I could apply in my own life.
This book provided many key insights, to include best practices for meetings before covid, best practices for meetings after covid, opportunities and challenges of virtual meetings, and what’s next in the virtual meeting world.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, it forced every country to change how people were living. The pandemic shut down the economy, schools, restaurants, and many businesses.
Only essential workers who worked for identified essential businesses, such as grocery stores, farms, and medical care, were allowed to continue going to work in person. But for all other types of work, employees were forced to work fully online.
Before the pandemic, organizations dabbled in work from home ideas but many workers were denied flexible work schedules at home. But once Covid-19 hit, everyone was forced to work virtually from home. This meant people no longer had to commute to work and only had to open up a laptop to participate in a work meeting. However, working from home had a few negative outcomes, such as working longer hours because employees were already at home. On average, employees worked an extra three hours every day. Additionally, employees no longer had the opportunity to see people in person and were overwhelmed with the distractions of home life, while also trying to concentrate on work.
Eighty percent of meetings were in person before the pandemic with only four percent held over video. After the pandemic, video meetings jumped to sixty percent. This drastic change to virtual digital meetings has changed the workforce completely. Many professions are referencing that even after the pandemic is over, they are considering continuing to use virtual meetings as their primary means for meeting. All of the digital technologies that are being used because of covid-19 will continue to be a major influence on the new workplace, even though we could probably go back to normal accessibility after the pandemic. Video call technologies such as Zoom have been the pathway that people have gravitated towards so that they could have professional and personal connections with those that they used to be in contact with before the pandemic. Video cameras were around before the pandemic but may not have been as essential as they are during the pandemic. Without them, people may not have had a way to stay connected with others.
Other key insights that I gained from the book were tips to help make virtual meetings more interactive and effective. The first tip is to turn on your camera. Many people in large group video calls (or many video calls no matter the size) normally do not turn on their cameras but it is critical that people keep them on. If an employee turns off their camera during a video call or meeting, they can become more distracted because they may try to multitask, which would hamper the effectiveness of the meeting. If an employee keeps their camera on, they would be less likely to divide their attention on something else because others in the meeting may notice.
Another tip I learned was to keep your microphone on mute. Keeping your microphone on mute helps diminish background noise around you that may not be noticeable to you but may be noticeable to others on the call. Another valuable tip was the use of the chat function in larger groups. Chat lets an employee communicate with individuals or groups of individuals without disrupting the person who is speaking. But when using this tool, be careful to not let it distract you from paying attention to the person who is speaking and purpose of the meeting.
The fourth tip I thought was very important was to build in time for social interaction. This is a very important point because the lack of social interaction can create feelings of isolation on both work accomplishment and human connection. Many people derive meaning from the relationships that they have with others at work. To combat these feeling of loneliness and isolation, employees should make sure to schedule time to be able to interact with other employees. These times do not have to involve work and can help relieve stress and form a sense of togetherness.
This book provides so many great tips to help make remote meetings more efficient and successful. I highly recommend it to anyone that is considering virtual work or is currently working virtually to read it to help make themselves and their workplaces more productive and enjoyable.
I am a military dependent and have had 9 military moves throughout my life. I have lived in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Washington D.C., Ohio, Stuttgart Germany, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Virginia. People have often asked me which place was my favorite and I’ve always had a difficult time answering that question because I have a very special place in my heart for all of those places. Each and every place I have lived has helped shape me into the person I am today. I am blessed to have amazing, loving parents who have always been there for me and have taught me so much. They inspired me to pursue my dreams, the importance of service to others and living life to the fullest.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve had a passion for making things. When I was 2 years old, I received my first Lego set and that ignited my love for building. As a toddler I would go to the grocery store with my parents and I would find useless nick-knacks on a shelf or on the floor and morph those objects into toys or jewelry and give them to my parents as gifts. I am majoring in mechanical engineering because it will provide me with the opportunity to do two things I love, creating and helping people. That passion also led me to joining the Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute because it is a program designed to strengthen leadership skills and the ability to utilize those skills to help make the world a better place.
Miami has been a great place for me to pursue my dreams. On campus, I am involved with several programs and clubs. In addition to the Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute, I am a member of the Miami University Club Swim Team, the LSAMP program, the S.T.E.M. Club, the University Academic Scholars Program, and the CRU Christian Fellowship Organization. I am so excited and blessed to be a part of Cohort X and am looking forward to taking our journey together.