Its been a year and a half since we switched to working from home – the online format is here to stay. We have a lot of contact but do we have enough connection
I was listening to Stanford GSB’s ‘Think Fast Talk Smart podcast this morning with Matt Abrahams, Tina Seelig, Bob Sutton and Sarah Soule
Here are top takeaways on how to best communicate, share information, and cultivate a professional presence though the screen.
#FORMAT
1) “…find ways to reduce cognitive overload,” – Offer information in smaller chunks interspersed with breakout groups.”
2) Have shorter meetings. At VMware, we have switched to 25 mins/50 min formats that allow us breaks before the next connect”
3) Keep content less cluttered and visually appealing
4) We tend to become transactional in virtual interactions – if we want more connection, then we’ve got to make a little bit of time to ask each other, how are you really doing?
#PRESENCE
1) How you show up really matters – make sure there’s a little bit of room between your head and the top of your box
2) Be well-lit – people read faces. [Zoom tip – checkbox adjust for low light]
3) Raise your camera up so it’s right at your eye level.
4) Use variation in your voice – great way to do this is to add emotive words, adjectives, adverbs, descriptors.
5) Gesture : Ensure your hands are up and visible in the box
6) Leverage paraphrasing – It helps you signal that you’ve heard what somebody said. Highlight or summarize something somebody has said and then add your opinion and link or bridge to the next topic
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Here is a snapshot from VMWare RADIO last week (our an annual, internal conference) which was virtual second year in a row.
Having the screen at eye level is a game changer.
Any tips to own virtual communication?
#reviewswithranjani
#virtualcommunication
#teams