Reduce video conference fatigue with a writing culture

Video conferencing has become the #1 essential means of communication for most people overnight. The virtualization of a meeting has brought forth a sea of changes ranging from unusual meeting venues to the infamous Zoom Fatigue. Though Zoom is not the only software that’s capable of this feat.

How do we reduce video conferencing fatigue when we can’t meet in person?

I have been trying different ways to keep everyone engaged at the meeting, to run through agenda efficiently, and to reach alignment with actionable next steps at the closing. Among all the experiments I have carried out, conducting meetings in a writing culture works exceedingly well.

Principles of a writing culture

Prepare for the meeting in writing. Most of the time, useful and important meetings have an agenda and a set of discussion topics. The meeting host should start a meeting document with all the context, reference materials, discussion topics, decisions to be made, requests for comments, etc. The host sends the meeting invite along with this document as much in advance as possible to all the attendees. All the attendees should prepare for the meeting by reading through the document, engaging in discussions in writing, and possibly adding any additional information and context for all to consume. If the prep is done well, a large portion of the meeting agenda could be checked off asynchronously.

Take notes both before and during the meeting. Taking notes while reading through the meeting doc helps you extract key ideas and form a point of view. Taking notes during the meeting helps you capture what’s important and convert information into knowledge.

Focus the time at the meeting on open items/discussions. The meeting time is very valuable since the cost to the team(s) is a multiple (number of attendees) of the meeting duration. (e.g. a 30-minute meeting with 4 people is costing the team(s) 30min x 4 = 2 hours) This time is best spent to discuss any topics that the attendees aren’t able to resolve via writing and possibly align on actionable next steps.

Benefits

The most obvious benefit is reducing the dreadfulness of video conferences.

The meeting, in fact, started as soon as the meeting invite was created. The attendees start engaging with each other in writing asynchronously in advance, sometimes days ahead. By the time the meeting convenes, the scope of the meeting is probably narrowed down, which creates a better focus for all to discuss the core issues/differences.

Writing also sharpens our minds. It allows us to formulate our thoughts with logic and better structures. When we have verbal conversations, we often blurb out incoherently the spark in our minds, or we say something inappropriate in the heat of the moment. Writing, on the other hand, provides us with time and space to think. The act of thinking helps us create a mental navigational map that links all the information required to reach our intended articulation. The well-written thoughts are much better at conveying ideas, debating with facts and references, and keeping records.

A less obvious benefit is that writing can bring equal opportunities for all to speak. It’s very easy for an extrovert with a loud voice to hoard the proverbial mic during a meeting. The more reserved would hold back and therefore miss the opportunity to express their opinions. Writing removes “the sound barrier” and allows everyone to contribute to the meeting equally.

Pro tips

Take better notes, not more notes. When reading through a lengthy meeting doc, we might be compelled to take a lot of notes since so much information seems relevant. But information is only useful when you convert it into knowledge and internalize it. There are many good note-taking techniques, pick one that works for you.

Start small. Try converting some small-scale meetings in writing first. It can take some time for people to get used to the format. A project status meeting is usually a good guinea pig.

Create accountability. Changes are hard, especially those that require more mental energy. Accountability helps accelerate changes. Assign a task/ticket to all the attendees on the meeting invite to read through the meeting doc and start writing. By the time the video conference starts, all the tasks/tickets should have been finished.

Working remotely or working from home is being adopted as the norm at workplaces at an unprecedented pace. While we are eager to keep in touch through the screens, we can all use some zen during meetings.