Chances are that you may have already held a virtual meeting since the lockdown and may think this is not that relevant to you. Hang on till the end, there are one or two things that you can actually discover that will help you in your virtual meetings with your staff, business partners, clients, etc.

If you have never organized a virtual meeting before, definitely this will help you as you get ready to organize one.

You may have set up an official WhatsApp or Telegram group to have your official discussions and disseminate information. As well as that may have worked for you, this tutorial/post could show you a better way to achieve an almost perfect “person to person” meeting.

If you want to achieve this, then keep reading or better still, turn on your device and follow the exact steps I will share.

To start your first online meeting, what you need is a good video conferencing software. There are tons of video conferencing software available, and they all offer almost the same features, maybe just a little different here and there. I will list the most popular ones available and recommend one to use.

1. Zoom (the most popular currently, thanks to Covid-19. Its free version is quite adequate). The free version supports an unlimited 1 to 1 meeting for 40mins. If your meeting is going to be longer than 40 mins, you will have to upgrade to the pro version.
2. Google Duo ( Free): Google Duo is completely free to host an unlimited 1 to 1 meeting for an unlimited duration.
3. Microsoft Teams (Freemium): The Microsoft Teams’ free version offers more capabilities. It also allows for 1 to1 meeting, chats and collaboration, and even screen sharing, so depending on what you want from your meetings, this could be a good choice. It also allows you to host a meeting of up to 250 participants. This freemium package is available from now till the end of the year.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we would be using Google Duo.

1. Internet connection.
2. Either a laptop or mobile device.
3. Of course your pen and paper to make meeting notes.

Google Duo can be used on the web or as an app on mobile devices. Of course, you will need to have a Google account (a Gmail account) in order to make use of the video conferencing app.

Step 1

Download the Android or iOS app

Step 2

Set up your account with your active phone line

Step 3

A verification code will be sent via SMS to the line you registered with. Enter in the code and you are done.

Step 4

You can set up as many groups as you want; in other words, you can set up separate groups for your clients, staff, departments, etc.

Step 5

For your first meeting, select a group you want to have a meeting with. Tap on the start button and everyone in the group will be notified of the call so that they can join in.

You can send text notes, voice notes, images, and videos to this group but they expire after 24 hours.

Here is a video walkthrough on the use of Google Duo.

1.      Have a time scheduled for your meeting and make sure all meeting attendees are aware of the meeting time way ahead. Where applicable, send a reminder sometime before the meeting.

2.      You should be available and ready for the meeting 5-10 minutes before the scheduled time. This is just to make sure everything is fine and okay.

3.      Have a note and pen handy to make notes or whatever works best for you.

4.      To avoid noise and feedback disruptions, it’s best that every meeting attendee mutes their microphone at all times with the exception of the person speaking, this may seem a bit clumsy at first, but you will get used to it in no time.

5.      In case you want to make sure individual tasks and activities are done, hold a brief morning meeting to go over the tasks for the day and at the end of the day have a brief review. Legalpedia holds a short 15-20 minute meetings at the beginning and end of each workday and it has been very effective.

Need help in setting up your first meeting? Send us a mail at [email protected] and we can help you get started quickly.