What is collaboration and how can you run a collaborative meeting

Collaboration. Or ‘to collaborate’. A word that we tend to hear today almost too often. With the rise of digital technologies the importance of collaboration has grown almost the same pace as the number of new solutions. You are expected to collaborate with your team members, partner organisations, managers, subordinates and customers. What exactly is collaboration and how can you hold and facilitate a collaborative meeting? We will break down the term and provide you with insights on how Drum web meetings enable effective meeting collaboration.

Collaborate — work together

Collaboration is easily associated with the term ‘co-operate’: basically it means to work together towards a common goal. An official definition of collaboration is “to join together to make possible that which cannot be accomplished alone”. Therefore, it emphasizes the importance of “joining forces” with each other. Each participating member’s effort will add up to the ultimate and shared attempt to attain the right goals. After all, as it is said “The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts”. Thus, the effect of interacting with one another results in a higher effectiveness than working individually in isolation.

Tools for effective meeting collaboration

Online meetings in general can be considered to enable collaboration: you don’t need to be physically in the same room with the person you are collaborating with. However, Drum online meetings are much more than just teleconferencing on the web. There are several tools you can incorporate in your meeting which all promote higher collaboration between the meeting attendees. With these tools all you are able to run collaborative meetings anywhere, anytime.

Screen sharing

Keeping everyone in the same page facilitates collaboration greatly during a meeting. Utilizing the feature of ‘see what I see’ as the meeting host enables effective communication between the meeting attendees and gives a better understanding on the topics or issues discussed. What’s more, you don’t need to share your whole screen if you prefer not to. Thus, you can easily hide the “Which type of bread am I” and “Funny walrus videos” Google searches from the meeting attendees.

Document sharing

Sharing important and relevant documents securely is a great advantage to apply to an online meeting. A collaborative meeting allows cooperation between individuals, and sharing documents is an integral part of cooperation. The sharing of presentation papers, previous meeting minutes, weekly process reports and so on is most effective when doing it instantly and during the meeting when you can discuss the documents at once. Some documents are better shared before meeting, sure, but during the meeting you can include all relevant people in the discussion.

Annotations

You’ve uploaded the important documents, now what? To achieve the highest level of collaboration, you can use different annotation tools to create engagement and unlimited comprehension. Using for example laser pointer or pencil help others follow your presentation and allows emphasizing and highlighting main areas of each document. For more specific information about Drum’s annotation tools and tips on how to use them, check this blog post.

Mobile dial-in

Maybe the most simple way to allow collaboration in a web meeting. As said in the beginning, today’s technologies allow us to collaborate real-time anywhere, anytime. There are no barriers in joining an online meeting in terms of device or location. You won’t have to miss out on a web meeting just because you’re on the move: with Drum you can use the PSTN/WebRTC dial-in feature and be part of a collaborative meeting.

Polling

One way to add collaboration in a meeting is to use polling feature. You can ask questions and everyone can provide an answer. This is highly effective especially in a case where you need to consider different opinions and need to find a rapid solution. Polling surely creates higher involvement and interaction during a meeting.

Collaboration requires openness and sharing of knowledge. Drum web meetings allow you to achieve both of these aspects. There are several different ways to collaborate and you should try to find your own best way to do so. With different meeting tools you can share insights and allow engagement between the participants. If you want tips on how to overcome engagement in a web meeting, check out our recent post. If you believe you are already a master of engagement, go ahead and put your skills to test by hosting a collaborative meeting using our tools and tips!