🔟 practical tips for good Microsoft Teams meeting hygiene

• Your whole day is planned.
• When do you have time to do your own work?
• rules, hygiene, Teams-etiquette, courtesies can help you have quality meetings.
• There are often many disruptive factors during a long meeting.
• Every day we do 10 online meetings with different people.
• Online meetings are often exhausting and take a lot of energy.
• Some meetings last 2 hours. Does this make sense?
• In this blog, some tips & tricks on online meetings.

1. Always use a headset during a meeting

It is disruptive to other participants if your built-in microphone relays the sounds of your surroundings. Therefore, always use a headset.

2. Set your status to 'do not disturb' at a Microsoft Teams presentation

Starting a presentation and still getting notifications from Microsoft Teams does not come across well.

Always set your status to: do not disturb at important meetings.

3. Use a single computer or shared device in a physical or hybrid meeting

If you want to hold a meeting with your team and not everyone is in the same physical workplace, it's best to work with a moderator.

one person makes sure that everyone gets their turn and that only one person always speaks at a time. rules making at the beginning of the meeting is a must.

4. Short meetings increase productivity and people love them

Many studies have already shown that online meeting is very intensive. My advice is to pre-arrange meeting well so that they do not take hours.

Create a fixed agenda, with structure and try to stick to it.

Short meetings are not only eficient, they are also not as tiring and give you back time you can spend on other tasks.

5. Make a recording of the meeting

Make a recording of crucial meeting so that people who cannot be there can still interpret the nuance of the conversations later. Record a Microsoft teams conversation?

6. Blur your background to let others focus on the people

One tip that most are familiar with is customizing your own background or blurring the border area. Customize Microsoft Teams background with your own image

7. Appoint a leader or moderator to keep the meeting on track

Appoint a moderator to manage the meeting.

Possibly the same person who ensures that all items can be discussed in the time allotted.

8. Taking minutes of a meeting

Note the principles, make a record. So that the discussion remains objective. Designate a person to write out the meeting points.

Meeting tip: keep it as small as possible

9. Invite only the people who are needed

Invite the decision makers and the people you really need. Inform bystanders. Split your meeting if there are too many people. Make attendance optional.

10. Agenda and timekeeping

It is equally important for everyone not to include items that are not relevant or important on the agenda right away. Prioritizing is one of the most important task in any meeting.