Let’s face it, virtual Zoom meetings are mind-numbingly boring.
Most people in Zoom meetings simply join the chat for attendance and then leave the camera and mic off while they do other tasks.
This is one aspect of remote work that still needs to be improved. Thankfully, there are many unique ways you can fix this problem right now.
Today, I look at some of those new technologies and strategies you can use to make those boring virtual meetings much more interesting and engaging.
In a way, this will apply to freelancers, clients, agencies, and businesses in making their virtual meetings more immersive.
Let’s dive in.
Utilize Spatial Audio Technology
This is a very cool technology that comes from a platform called Kumospace.
Kumospace allows you to create a virtual room for your online meetings so you can have your entire remote team in one interconnected virtual space.
And with their spatial audio technology, Kumospace makes you actually feel like you’re in that room. For example, if one of your colleagues speaks during the meeting and they are located across the room in the virtual space, you will hear their voice as if it’s actually coming from across the room.
This virtual space is more than just for meetings. You can even move around, sit at virtual tables, play games, interact with objects, and much more. It’s an entirely interactive virtual workspace.
It’s an innovative way to make virtual meetings more immersive as well as make remote work more enjoyable. And it will certainly help fix the feeling of loneliness of working from home.
Creating a strong company culture for fully remote teams is not an easy task. It takes a lot of work to bring your remote team together during virtual meetings and have them interact with each other.
Thanks to tools like Kumospace, that process will get much simpler and easier.
Use Virtual Reality Workrooms
Meta (Facebook) is already working on utilizing VR devices to create virtual reality workrooms for remote teams.
A while back, Mark Zuckerberg previewed this technology, called Horizons, during an event. And it showed a lot of promise.
With Horizons, you create virtual avatars for yourself and when you join a virtual meeting, you will be interacting with the virtual avatars of your team. You can also work in this virtual space.
Ever since I read Ready Player One, I’ve dreamed about living and working in a virtual world. And Meta’s Metaverse and Horizons projects may just be it.
One of the biggest issues with this project is having to wear those bulky VR headsets all the time. That’s not going to be a pleasant experience. Hopefully, they will develop much lighter and easy-to-wear VR glasses soon.
Google, Microsoft, and many other companies are also working on similar projects that involve VR and Augmented Reality technologies.
You can test out Meta Horizons right now if you have VR headsets. Or you can try it in a 2D environment too.
Gamify Your Meetings
Using gamification, you can make your meetings not just immersive but more engaging.
There are many different aspects of gamification you can implement in your virtual team meetings and remote workspaces.
For example, whenever someone in your team suggests a great idea, you can reward them with experience points. Or whenever someone completes a task, mention them for completing the quest. And setup rewards for completing these tasks and leveling up their character.
I know it sounds silly but many studies show that gamification techniques are quite effective at motivating people to take action and engage with tasks. According to a survey, employees have admitted that gamification helps them feel more productive (89%) and happier (88%) at work.
Make Interactive Presentations
Almost every virtual meeting includes going through a very long PowerPoint slideshow.
Listening to just one person explain each slide while everyone else stares at the screen is one of the most boring aspects of virtual meetings.
There are actually more interesting and creative tools you can use for these presentations. One of them is Mentimeter.
This tool allows you to create presentations that your audience can interact with. For example, it allows you to create live polls that your audience can engage with while you give the presentation. Or create live word clouds for the team to share their thoughts and ideas.
Interactive presentation tools like Mentimeter will encourage your team members to interact with presentations to explore new ideas and learn together. Rather than watch and listen in silence.
Virtual 360-Degree Conference Rooms
Videos are still an important part of virtual meetings. But, instead of the usual Zoom meetings, what if you could combine all your screens into one big virtual conference room?
That’s exactly what Meeting Owl does. It’s actually a device that features a 360-degree camera, mic, and speaker. And it creates a big virtual conference room where you can pan and turn to create the sense of having the entire team in one space.
At $1,000 dollars, it’s going to be a big investment, and certainly something over the budget for small businesses and freelancers. But there are more affordable alternatives to Meeting Owl, like Kandao.
Or, you can find other virtual conference room software to create such virtual rooms using the existing webcams for more immersive meetings.
Conclusion
Some of the CEOs of big tech companies kept complaining about remote work and how they are ineffective. However, there are still many companies out there that have 100% remote teams and are still highly successful, like Automattic, Buffer, and Zapier just to name a few.
It’s up to you to make your remote work environment more fun, engaging, and immersive. And as you can see, there are so many great ways to achieve that goal. Give these methods a try and make your boring virtual meetings fun again!