- Determine a date, time and length of your conference. Set objectives.
- Identify participants and confirm attendance.
- Develop an agenda and prioritize discussion topics.
- Appoint a leader for each site.
- Distribute meeting materials and prepare visual aides.
- Arrive early, familiarize yourself with the videoconferencing equipment and peripherals, and prepare camera presets before the meeting begins.
- Begin on time.
- Appoint an overall chairperson and establish a leader at each site.
- Open by introducing participants and encouraging participation.
- Use simple chat or humor to establish a warm environment and reduce the anxiety of first-time participants.
- Distribute meeting objectives, agendas and other pertinent meeting materials before the videoconference.
- Ensure that your presentation materials are formatted properly. Overhead presentations should have a minimum font size of 24 to be seen clearly.
- Ask questions.
- Keep the meeting focused. Direct non-agenda items to future meetings.
- End on time. Allow a few minutes to wrap up and for goodbyes.
- Be on time.
- Identify yourself (as necessary). Speak and move naturally. Maintain eye contact with the TV screen.
- Avoid wearing clothing and jewelry with bright colors and busy patterns. Pastel colors are preferred over white, which may create a glare. If wearing white, put on a dark sweater or jacket to provide contrast.
- Be yourself. Imaging participants are sitting across the table from you. Avoid coughing into microphones, drumming your fingers or carrying on side conversations. If you must engage in noisy activities, remember to use the MUTE button. If there are several people who need to be on camera, preset camera "views" with the keypad to avoid manual panning and zooming. In multi-point conferences, systems are usually set to focus on the location with the most noise and movement. Thus, it is important to minimize distracting movement and to use the MUTE button when your location is not speaking.
- Make sure that your image fits the video space well - without too much or too little headroom at the top of the screen. Try to have about 10 percent of open space above your subject's head.
Source: WireOne Newsletter