How to make virtual meetings more inclusive

As someone who spends about half their working hours in meetings of some kind, I am constantly thinking about how to make them better (and whether they need to exist at all).

This article offers some tidy, practical advice on making virtual meetings more inclusive – some you may have heard before, but some that may be new.

Here are a few of my favourite tips:

• Take the time to write an agenda, purpose and goal outcomes for the meeting, and include this on the invitation to help people decide whether they need to be there
• Limit invitations to those who are most needed to achieve the goal outcomes – the ‘optional’ invitation setting can be handy here
• Designate a separate facilitator and note taker, who can capture notes and actions for anyone who would benefit from a summary of the discussion (or wasn’t able to attend)
• At the start of any meeting, take a few minutes to settle in before diving into task-based conversation
• If there’s time at the end, reflect on the meeting itself: Did you get what you need? What could you improve for next time?