DEV Community: Mombit@Blogging

Meeting Deadlines: 10 Essential Tips for Getting Things on Time

Mombit@Blogging — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:34:18 +0000

There are two very important factors that will contribute to your reputation at work and those are quality of work performance and how well you meet deadlines. Today, we will specifically focus on meeting deadlines, as that’s the area that many team members and freelancers have issues with. Unfortunately, doing an outstanding job with a task is not enough. You have to turn your projects and tasks in on time. Otherwise, you will lose customers, disrupt the product development process, disappoint your team and manager and even lose your job because of it.

Deadlines are also one of the causes of employee burnout. They are a source of stress and relentless pressure. However, there’s no business or organization that won’t rely on deadlines to complete a project on time and satisfy customers. Ultimately, deadlines matter. They are essential for the smooth running of any business. Therefore, you have to become a master in meeting deadlines. However, if you are experiencing difficulties in meeting deadlines or lack any time management techniques, you shouldn’t worry much. There are things you can do and practical steps to follow for meeting deadlines and even for supporting other team members to meet theirs. Let’s take a look at 10 essential tips for meeting deadlines.

Why Deadlines Matter?

Why are deadlines so important? Why are bosses always nagging about meeting those deadlines and checking with you every day? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Well, this is why:

To ensure work is completed. You can’t keep delaying deadlines or pretending they don’t exist. Forgetting a task is also not an option. That’s why we have deadlines - to remind us of our responsibilities and ensure that they will be fulfilled.
Smooth workflow. Deadlines bring the team together. When team members collaborate toward achieving a common goal, a better working environment is created. Not just that but deadlines keep complex, multistage projects on track.
Setting expectations. Having a deadline helps us understand what we are expected to deliver and when. This way there is no confusion and we can take control of our work.
Reputation. Not being able to meet deadlines can damage the reputation of your company or organization. Serious financial losses might occur if you don’t submit what’s expected of you on time. Time is money, after all. On a personal level, it can damage your own professional reputation and harm your career prospects.

10 Tips for Meeting Deadlines

1. Care About The Deadline

If you want to meet your deadline, you have to be serious about it. Don’t regard a deadline set by your employer as a “slight suggestion.” There’s a reason why it’s there in the first place. You have to complete a task by tomorrow morning - make it a priority and do your best to fulfil your obligations. Don’t be lax about deadlines. Acknowledge their importance. With that mindset, you are on your way to becoming a master in meeting deadlines.

2. Evaluate the Requirements
A task and a deadline come together, hand in hand. Once you see a new task assigned to you, along with a deadline next to it, you have to understand what exactly the task involves. Presumably, your team lead or manager takes into consideration the complexity of the work before setting a deadline. However, in some cases you might see a complicated task or a project with an unreasonable deadline next to it. In this case, evaluate the requirements and negotiate a more adequate deadline. You are not a robot, after all.

3. Break Down the Task
This is a standard advice for any task or project. If you’re faced with a big task, involving tons of little things, try to break it down into several mini tasks. Eat that big cake piece by piece. Once you have those little pieces figured out, give a time estimate for each. Each mini task should be small enough that it takes an hour or less to complete.

4. Step-by-Step
This meeting deadlines tip is directly related to the above one. Once you’ve broken down your big task into smaller mini tasks, focus on the first one and move on to the second one only when the first one is finished. Don’t try to multitask. It will only damage your productivity and focus which will inevitably result in low-quality results and failure to meet that deadline.
Not just that but when you complete a mini task, you will feel confident and satisfied with yourself. You will move on to the next one in good spirits.

5. Utilize a Project Management Tool
You have to submit a project proposal in two days? Don’t write it down on a sticky note. Don’t rely on your brain to remember the exact date and time you’re supposed to submit it. Open your project management tool. Create a task for yourself, break it down into smaller tasks and assign yourself a deadline, along with a reminder. Project management tools can help you track your progress. Not just that but you can also leave comments, notes, add documents, etc.

6. Manage Problems
Things won’t go always according to plan. Therefore, it’s wise to think about potential problems that might arise during completing your task or project. For instance, you have to send a press release today and you need a banner from the designer in your team. However, he/she is not ready yet and you won’t be able to send it on time. In this case, a workplace conflict might easily occur as you will start blaming other people for not meeting your own deadline. In this case, it’s better to communicate and let everyone who you depend on know of the seriousness of your expectations.

This is just one example. If something else comes up and it affects your plans, you have to know how to minimize the impact.

7. Have a Clear Outcome
When you and the person who assigned a specific task for you agree on a clearly defined outcome, you will manage to complete the task in a timely manner. If you skip this important step, you will definitely be sorry later. If you turn in a project or a task and it runs out that it’s not exactly what the client or your boss wanted, you will have to do extra work. This means missing your deadline and losing time and money. When it’s not clear what the outcome of a task should look like, ask for specifications.

8. Don’t Overcommit
Know your strengths, weaknesses and limitations. Don’t agree to do something just because you believe you can do it. That’s especially valid if you have to deal with something you’ve never done before. Don’t commit to a strict deadline if the task is more than you can handle. Learn to say no if you can’t finish the project or task on time.

9. Negotiate a Second Deadline
If things are not looking good (which means that you probably overcommitted), you should talk to your boss, client or team leader and negotiate a second deadline. It’s much better to do this than to suffer in silence and submit a half-done task. Of course, once you have your second deadline, you have to make sure you meet it. Two missed deadlines in a row will make you look very unprofessional.

10. Do Whatever it Takes to Meet It
If you planned badly or procrastinated, you will be up against a tight deadline and that’s a big monster to defeat. Do whatever it takes to meet the deadline. If that means staying up late or not going for a lunch break, do it. You were aware of the consequences to your procrastination and you should now face them.
This is actually good for you as you will learn from your mistakes. Next time, you won’t leave everything for the last minute and you will manage your time better.

Tips for Managing Yourself

The above-mentioned tips for meeting deadlines are useful but there’s another important factor to consider if you’re struggling to submit your tasks on time. That factor is you. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Learn to say “no.” Be assertive and give yourself enough time to complete a task. Evaluate if a deadline is reasonable and if you think it won’t work for you, communicate your concerns to your boss.
Attitude change. We all resent deadlines but the truth is that deadlines help us achieve goals we might otherwise put off. Have a positive attitude towards deadlines.
Work on your self-sabotaging behaviours. If you’re spending too much time on the Internet or social media, for example, work on addressing this.
Motivate yourself. Some people are not inspired by deadlines because they don’t feel motivated to complete the task on time. Find what motivates you. A promotion? A recognition from your boss? Having free time for your hobbies? Once you know what’s driving you, you will definitely meet your deadlines.
Planning is not the same as doing. Spend some time on planning and dividing the task into smaller tasks but remember that you have to put this plan into action.

Key Points to Remember:

Deadlines are absolutely essential for the smooth running of any business or organization.
Deadlines keep work flowing and ensure that all team members are working to an agreed end date.
Managing deadlines can be difficult but there are things you can do to improve.

Ultimately, your attitude and mindset are the most crucial factors for you successfully completing a deadline. Think positively, stay motivated, use your time wisely, manage problems in advance and plan ahead of time. You can do it!

How to Be a Decision Maker? 5 Techniques for Better Decision-Making Skills

Mombit@Blogging — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 15:33:12 +0000

Being an outstanding team leader or manager means that you are able to assemble high-performing teams, effectively navigate day-to-day tasks, manage communication, conflicts and do everything in your power to achieve any given business objective. The most important quality, however, of any manager is the ability to make favorable decisions that will inevitably play out well from a long term perspective. Managers are expected to predict any impact their decisions may have, therefore they must properly calculate and analyze every aspect of their choices.

Managers are often faced with a situation where tough decisions have to be made. Those decisions may not sound good at the moment and may negatively impact team members or a company as a whole, however they are made for a better tomorrow. For example, laying off employees due to reasons such as lack of resources or a difficult market situation is certainly a hard decision to make. From a business perspective, though, you don’t want to keep employees when there’s a financial crisis at the company or if they don’t really have enough work to do.

Other tough but important decisions managers or team leaders are faced with,include deciding whether to close or continue with a questionable project, what financial risks to take and who would be a perfect fit for their team or not.

Being a great-decision maker is a skill that you have to master in order to be a great leader. If you ever consider being in a leadership position, make sure you check out the following five techniques that will help you achieve good results.

What is Decision Making?

First, let’s try to define what decision making is. Simply put, it’s the process of selecting a course of action from among two or more alternatives in order to come up with a solution for a specific issue. The decision-making process, especially done in an organization, is a dynamic and continuous process that plays an important role in the proper functioning of a company. Professional managers and intellectual minds are usually involved in the process of decision making as it often involves a certain level of knowledge, business experience and naturally, mental maturity.

The decision-making process is what makes any organization or business grow. The goal of any decision is to deal with obstacles or issues that may be unfavourable to the business objectives, company vision and mission. Since such issues may arise on a daily basis and they may vary depending on numerous factors, the decision-making process is continuous and highly dynamic, as already mentioned.

The decision-making process usually involves the following steps:

Define the problem
Information gathering
Trying to come up with options
Decide on the best possible option
Plan and execute
Take follow up action

We can conclude that the decision-making process is definitely time-consuming. However, since any administrative, managerial or organizational problem can impact hundreds of employees and the future of the company, spending time and coming up with the best solution is absolutely essential.

Improve your Decision Making Skills with 5 Techniques

1. Involve your Team in the Decision-Making Process

You might be a manager or a team lead but that doesn’t mean you have to lock your office door and spend a couple of days by yourself in a vacuum, trying to figure out what’s the best possible solution to the problem. Involve your team members. Hearing out several different points of view can definitely stimulate creative problem solving. Conduct an effective team meeting and hear what everyone has to say. This technique is especially valid when you have a team of people who have worked together on the same project for many years.

According to a research, decision-making is highly effective when the entire team is involved in it. Through collective decision-making, managers can overcome any hidden biases and consider all the perspectives before making a final decision. Moreover, this is a great way for a manager to learn how to handle teams with a greater level of emotional intelligence.

2. Decision-Making is a Process, Not an Event

Many junior managers think that making a decision is an event. However, it most certainly isn’t. Think of it as a process that requires time, discussion, analysis and collaborative efforts. The role of the manager is to oversee all these activities, carefully analyze the problem and craft a suitable solution.

Making an important decision is not waking up one day and sharing with your team members ideas you came up with while you were in the shower. Decision-making is a process that should be framed with the right questions, analysis and collaboration. It’s a multi-step process that follows a specific structure and if you want to reach a desired outcome, you should stick to that structure.

3. Rely on Data and Meaningful Insights

When managers are faced with a situation where they have to make an important decision, it’s essential to have all the necessary data and information in front of them. Think of the decision-making process as preparing for one of the project management steps. To complete each one, you need to conduct research, plan ahead and assess various factors like team performance, time management, quality of deliverables, etc. To do so, you need data sources such as customer patterns, employee performance, cost optimization avenues, budget analysis and similar.

With these insights at hand, the decision-making will become scientific and fact-based. You will also be in control of the outcome. For example, if you have to decide whether to continue working on a promising product that did not bring enough revenue to the company but cost a lot to produce, you have to use specific numbers as proof that closing the project is the most reasonable solution to the problem.

4. Emphasize the Goals and Purpose of the Decision

During the decision-making process, you will see how easy it is to lose sight of the goals and purpose of the decision put on the table. A lengthy discussion with your team regarding the impacts of the decision can quickly turn into a heated debate over things that have little or nothing to do with the goal of the decision.

Therefore, to avoid a common management pitfall, you should repeatedly emphasize on the goals and purpose of the decision-making process. Clearly state them at the beginning of the team meeting and remind everyone of them whenever you feel the discussion is drifting towards something irrelevant to the issue.

When there’s a complex issue at stake, such as a huge organizational change, for example, you have to be absolutely clear with the goal of that decision and make sure each team member understands how their contributions will tie into a larger objective.

Another decision making example could be solving the issue of employee productivity. Naturally, the desired goal is to increase the efficiency and productivity of your team. To do so, you have to at all times think towards that direction - how to boost work productivity?

5. Trust Your Instincts and Experience

At the end of the day, it’s all about managerial instinct and proven experience. Some of the world’s greatest leaders rely on their intuition to reach the final decision. Our professional growth depends on our ability to make good decisions that will drive favourable outcomes. Every minute you spend perfecting your decision-making skills by using your intuition, gut feeling or instinct is a minute well spent. Learn not to ignore your inner voice and you will definitely make better decisions.

With time, you will also accumulate enough experience to know what will work best for a specific situation. When experience meets intuition, you can be certain that you’re taking the right steps towards a desired outcome.

Conclusion

Being a decision maker is tough but there are things you can do that will help you enhance your decision-making capabilities. Without learning those techniques, you can’t advance your career or become a better manager.

The above-mentioned techniques are just some of the things you should take into consideration when faced with an important decision as every company, organization, business or team is different. One thing is for sure - listen carefully to what everyone has to say and give yourself time to make the right decision.

Kickoff Meeting - How to Start Your New Project Successfully With a Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda

Mombit@Blogging — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 15:37:34 +0000

When it comes to running a project, you have no other option but to get ready for thousands of meetings with stakeholders and team members. Those meetings are absolutely necessary in order to align goals, set deadlines and discuss progress, status and issues. Yes, those weekly or even daily meetings are important, however the project kickoff meeting has to be considered as the most important one.

During your project kickoff meeting presentation, you will have the opportunity to set the tone and the vision for the entire project’s future. Not just that but you will clearly establish expectations and gather all the information needed before officially starting the project. A kickoff meeting will provide information to all the parties involved in the upcoming project. Last but not least, if done right, you will end up with a motivated, focused and excited team who are ready to work hard and succeed.

In the following article, I will dive deeper into the concept, importance and purpose of the project kickoff meeting. Not just that but I will also talk about utilizing kickoff meeting agenda to further secure a triumphant gathering for a great new project. Let’s go!

What is a project kickoff meeting?

To put it simply, a kickoff meeting is the first meeting between the stakeholders and the project team. The meeting serves as an opportunity to synchronize and discuss the project’s objectives, the client’s requirements, orient the team and communicate every little detail that will guide the project to future success.

The project manager is usually the one responsible for running the meeting. Such meetings are usually held as soon as the contracts have been signed and all parties have agreed on a budget and timeline. If a project is very large and it requires several phases, a kickoff meeting can be held at the beginning of every new phase.

What’s the purpose of a kickoff meeting?

A Kickoff meeting serves the following purpose:

Notify all the project stakeholders that the project is starting.
Introduce team members.
Clarify the project requirements and background.
Dedicate individual responsibilities.
Set project milestones.
Build a roadmap with the team and stakeholders.
Make sure there are realistic expectations.
Acknowledge potential surprises and problems the team might encounter.
Encourage conversation and answer questions together to clear any confusion or mismanaged expectations.
To prevent project setbacks by eliminating surprises.

Ultimately, the purpose of a project kickoff meeting is to lay a solid foundation for a successful upcoming project. It’s a good chance to bring everyone on the same page and set ground rules that will result in working together more effectively.

All that must sound quite simple and many might prefer to send a detailed email or a presentation that explains everything in written form. However, trust me, this is absolutely not the type of meeting you should have in the digital world. Any other update or weekly team meeting might be converted into an email or even postponed but the project kickoff meeting should definitely be held and it should be held in person. With the right preparation, your project will run smoothly and you won’t be surprised by any issues or uncalculated gaps.

How to prepare for a kickoff meeting?

Just like any other meeting, a project kickoff meeting requires preparation if you want it to be a successful one. Whether the project meeting is for internal or external stakeholders, check out the following tips you might want to consider to get the most out of your next project kickoff meeting.

Schedule the meeting in advance and make sure attendees can dedicate at least an hour of their time. Set aside a chunk of time to allow yourself and everyone else involved in the project to review all the details and ask relevant questions. An hour-long meeting is considered a suitable length. However, it all depends on the project complexity and the organization.
Make sure you are inviting the right people. Gather everyone who is going to play a role, whether big or small, to the project meeting. If there are employees who are working remotely, make sure your meeting will be accessible online. You can utilize meeting management software like Mombit to help you with that.
Agenda is king! This is the most important part of your preparation for an upcoming project kickoff meeting. Your agenda is your meeting guide. By preparing one, you have a structure to walk on to and utilize every single minute of that one-hour meeting. You can’t have an efficient or productive meeting without an agenda. Stay tuned to find out how to prepare a kickoff meeting agenda.
Taking notes during the meeting is crucial. Many project managers forget about that rule or just assume that they don’t need to write things down as they will remember things later. Well, based on experience, you must absolutely take notes. Be prepared for project-specific developments or questions that will arise during the meeting. One way to make sure all changes will be addressed and all information will be checked and added to the project map, is to rely on notes. If you don’t like the old-fashioned way, you can always use note-taking apps. Or, you can always assign a designated note-taker who will be in charge of all that. By doing so, you can focus on the presentation and its proper delivery to the attendees.

How to Write an Effective Kickoff meeting agenda

As mentioned before, you should consider a kickoff meeting template to coordinate efforts and make sure all the primary topics are covered. You will most likely host a lot of follow-up meetings after the initial project kickoff meeting so you have to make a habit out of utilizing a flexible agenda. Having a flexible kickoff meeting template or a regular team meeting template will eliminate the need to recreate the project meeting wheel each time you have to introduce a new project. Not just that but it will add a methodical consistency to your working process across various company projects.

A kickoff meeting agenda will also build confidence in the clients that your team is absolutely capable of completing the project successfully. So, what to include in a kickoff meeting agenda?

Introductions

The chances of having team members who have not worked together before are quite high. You have to dedicate a minute or two to get to know each other on a personal level. This acts as an icebreaker and will definitely ease the tension in the room. To run a better meeting, a relaxed atmosphere is needed. Promote mutual respect as you say a few words about each one of your team members and why you chose them to work with you on this project.

Project Background

During this part of the agenda, you can offer a high-level overview of the project. You can present a brief history of the project, how you got to work on this project, the business case, meetings or ideas that led to the development stage and more. Whether your stakeholders are internal or external, background information is necessary to set the stage. You have to make sure everyone in the room knows why this project is happening and how it is going to happen.

A quick note - don’t turn this part of the agenda into a lengthy history lesson filled with overwhelming details. Be as quick and as straightforward as you can.

What is the goal of the project

What is the big picture? How will your project influence people’s lives and how it will meet their needs? These are all things you should do your best to explain during this part of your meeting agenda. Make sure everyone will understand the purpose behind the project and will feel good about making a difference.

Prepare a project mission statement but don’t forget to keep it short and inspiring. If your stakeholder already has a mission statement, integrate it in the kickoff meeting agenda. What you’re trying to do is motivate your team and give them a sense of purpose. Ultimately, what you’re trying to convey is that short-term toil is sometimes the cost for long-lasting impact which will encourage them to give their all and even understand that there might even be days when they may need to pull longer hours. They will be ready to do so, as long as the project has a clear mission and you explain it to them.

Scope

This part of your agenda will cover all the details of the project. Here, you have to explain the statement of work and project deliverables so that everyone will understand their roles and responsibilities for the successful outcome of the project.

Talk about the project scope. The project scope should contain key features and functionalities and is where all parties agree upon a statement of the work. Your scope should also include an outline description and any possible constraints, such as budget or timeline.
It’s also a great time to assess whether the goals you’ve set are realistic and achievable within those constraints you’ve just mentioned.
In time, the project will most likely evolve. However, you have to manage everyone’s expectations and talk about potential risks early on in its development so that you can more easily manage issues and problems when they arise. Try to achieve the necessary balance between the wants and the needs of the stakeholders and the reality of the project, considering deadliness, complexity, budget and other similar factors.

Plan and tools

This part of the agenda includes a roadmap, a tailored timeline specific to the project, as well as project management tools, software and methodologies the team will follow. Also, here you can mention which communication tool you will use to coordinate work internally and externally. Here, you will also deal with change requests or objections, if any.

Roles

You’ve already touched upon project expectations so your team is aware of how they will fit into the picture. So, now is the time to map individual roles and responsibilities to the statement of work and the scope document.
Visualize project roles and assignments with your stakeholder. Establish clarity and ownership prior to the execution stage. This way, you won’t have to waste your time with questions about tasks and who does what and why once the project is running.
Moreover, It might be helpful to develop a RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) or DACI (driver, approver, contributor, informed) matrix.

Collaboration

How will your team work together? What’s going to be the best way to collaborate in order to meet deadlines and milestones efficiently?
Propose a single central location where team members and the project manager, of course, can share documents, notes, feedback, updates, processes and any other information as quickly as possible. There are many cloud-based, real-time collaboration software that you can integrate with Google Drive, Jira and more.

Questions

Don’t forget to leave time for questions. Allow team members to voice their opinions, concerns or any other questions they might have. Encourage them to address any items that need to be further cleared. Don’t leave anything to guesses and assumptions. Everyone should leave the room knowing what’s required of them. After all, who knows when you’ll all be together again in the same room.

What follows

It’s time to finish the project kickoff meeting with final words on what’s about to happen next. The following steps might include providing access to the software your team will be using, sharing important documents and resources, exchange contact information, etc. The stakeholders should leave the meeting with absolute clarity of what they need to get started.

After the project kickoff meeting

When you go back to your desk after everyone has left the meeting, make sure you send out meeting minutes. Share the meeting notes or a summary of the project meeting to all attendees. Don’t forget to include those who were not able to attend but would still benefit from the notes.

In addition, you can also send a meeting follow-up email where you can express your gratitude to all attendees for taking the time to come and also encourage them to contact you for more information or if they have any questions.

Ultimately, the kickoff meeting is just the beginning. You’ve made the first step toward a successful project completion and hopefully demonstrated knowledge and abilities that built confidence in the stakeholders.

Yes, the final result is what’s important to everyone. However, an effective meeting is a must if you want to have a coordinated team with clear understanding of the situation and complete knowledge of every step that’s about to come. Do the kickoff meeting presentation right and you will end up with a motivated, well-informed team, ready to take over the world.

Improve and Calculate the ROI of Your Business Meeting

Mombit@Blogging — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 15:59:37 +0000

Company time is precious and getting the most out of your workday does require a set of special skills. Some of those include discipline, organizational skills and constant efforts to pursue the greatest value for your company.

Unfortunately, team leaders, managers and directors spend a lot of time in unproductive meetings, leading to nothing but losses. That one hour you lost in an inefficient team meeting that ended with nothing but even more questions with no clear answers can’t really be brought back. So, what to do when your meetings are simply unproductive?

Meetings can be viewed as an instrument to achieve company goals. Without them, it will be quite impossible to coordinate teams, assign tasks and progress with achieving success. Therefore, it’s of extreme importance to know how to prepare for them and run them if you want to get the best results. There are some great tips and tricks on how to run team meetings effectively, so if you’re not a pro and you think you’re doing something wrong, you can always learn and improve.

Team meetings have doubled, even tripled in number and duration over the last 20-50 years. In fact, managers and directors spend on average around 23 hours a week attending meetings. If you’re going to spend that much time in meetings, you surely have to know how many resources you’re actually investing in your weekly meetings. Knowing that can tell you whether you have to adjust your team meeting leading style.

In this article I will talk about meeting ROI (return on investment) and how you can calculate it. In addition, I will also provide you with tips and tricks on how to improve your ROI. Let’s go!

What is meeting ROI?

Return on investment is a comprehensive measurement approach that aims at assessing the financial impact results for business meetings. There are many benefits associated with implementing ROI methodology. For starters, team leaders and managers would be able to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the meetings they organize. Not just that but they will also discover which meeting investments should be expanded and which should be discontinued. Last but not least, ROI will provide them with specific knowledge and data that can enhance their role, function and relationship with clients and executives.

As mentioned, the ROI measurement process focuses on financial results. The methodology is not about measuring participant reactions to the meeting and what information or knowledge was gained during the meeting. Rather, it showcases how the meeting will affect the actual on-the-task behavior which directly correlates with the business performance of the entire company or organization.

How to calculate meeting ROI?

To be able to calculate your event/meeting ROI, you have to analyze three things:

Financial measurement

What are the indirect, fixed and variable costs of the meeting/event or conference?

Engagement

Send attendees a post-meeting survey to know their thoughts and experience with the meeting or conference.

Value

Evaluate the value and relevance of the meeting to your team members. Again, use surveys or polls to determine whether you’re going in the right direction.

Use a meeting management platform that can calculate ROI

One such tool is Mombit. Mombit is a meeting management software that has a built-in meeting cost calculator. Once the meeting has started, you can see in real time how much value your meeting is adding. You can also pause the meeting which will also stop the calculator. This is quite useful as it doesn’t really require you to spend time after the meeting to analyze the value of the event. Moreover, since it’s happening in real-time you will inevitably me more cautious of how much time you’re designating for that meeting.

In addition to the real-time meeting ROI calculator, Mombit has built-in meeting minutes and with it you can keep track of action items and tasks which are all directly related to improved meeting efficiency and productivity. In addition, it’s compatible with project management platforms such as Jira and Asana.

Ways to improve the ROI of your business meeting?

Schedule a meeting only when necessary. If you can send an email instead, do it. You may be one of those managers that really believes in direct verbal communication but sometimes the information you might want to convey or receive from your team members might not require for you to spend some time in a virtual or physical meeting room. Don’t spend additional resources to your meeting if you can send the information through email or chat.

Start on time and end on time. Don’t go beyond the scheduled ending time. It’s not only unpleasant and can damage the work day flow but it will also lead to losses. You have to make it clear to the team members that the meetings should start on time and absolutely end on time. Be consistent and let everyone know in advance of the length of the meeting. If the designated time is not enough and you couldn’t cover everything you wanted to, schedule another meeting or analyze what went wrong during the gathering that went overtime.

Preparation is key. If you want to improve your meeting ROI, prepare for them accordingly. This is not just for ROI improvement but also for the overall effectiveness of the meeting. Prepare a meeting room, questions, discussion topics, agendas, etc.

Set a meeting agenda. You will definitely need an agenda even if it’s just a routine daily meeting. A meeting agenda will serve as the foundation for the meeting. It represents a list of points to be addressed during the course of the meeting. The main purpose for setting up an agenda is to make sure no time will be wasted in talking about things which are not relevant at the moment. There are many business meeting agenda templates online to help you with outlining your next company gathering.

Develop your leadership skills. Own your meeting. You’re the one who’s responsible for it and you have to make sure it doesn’t turn into a waste of time and money. The meeting is your stage and what you bring to the table is directly related to the ROI of the meeting.

Positive attitude is just as important. Yes, you have to take into consideration many things that can affect the ROI of the meeting and this might turn you into an annoying manager or team leader. That’s why it’s important to remember that you have to keep a positive attitude. If you showcase how much you hate team meetings and how much you think they are a waste of time and money, you will definitely lose more than you gain.

Meeting follow-up. Keep track of action items and make sure that everyone left the meeting with an assigned task and know what they’re supposed to do. Surely, you don’t wnt team members showing at the next meeting unprepared. This will turn into a total waste of time and money and will definitely affect the meeting ROI.

Know your ROI. If you’re the one responsible for the meeting, make sure you know what’s the cost and the expected deliverables. What’s the type of meeting you are running? Is it a decision-making meeting or analysis of an ongoing problem. Always think whether the investment of staff time was worth it and you’re earning what you want.

There are many ways to calculate ROI and yours should be unique to the type of meeting you are running. Ultimately, think of ROI as a simple formula that tells you what’s the relationship between revenue and cost.
Determine what is important for your company and set expectations. If all the hard work you put into the meeting paid off that means you’re doing something right. If not, follow the above-mentioned tips to improve the ROI of your meeting.

The Ultimate Guide to Building an Effective Meeting App

Mombit@Blogging — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 08:19:55 +0000

In today’s hectic business-oriented environment, it’s rather difficult to arrange meetings and discussions with team members and stakeholders. Everyone has different priorities, the timing is always questionable and schedules can’t always match, especially when everyone is on the go or working from home. Therefore, a need for effective online meeting apps has risen.

Conducting productive meetings online, with the help of a meeting app has many advantages. Online sessions increase flexibility, add quality and help with urgency. For instance, if there’s an urgent need to host a meeting with your team members but distance or time are not in your favor, you can always set up an online meeting, using one of the many apps available.

Nowadays, meeting software comes with a variety of useful features which can turn any dull online meeting into an effective and fruitful one. Some of those interactive features include share screen options, background change options, chat, calendar reminder, integration with task management tools and more. All those options sound amazing, don't they?

In the following article, we will highlight the characteristics and advantages of online meetings and we will talk in detail about how to build a successful meeting app. Stay tuned!

Why Companies Host Meetings Online?

The answer to that question is directly related to how technology has changed our working environment and habits. Online meeting apps are cutting the ties to any physical environment. This means that you have the absolute freedom to collaborate with people from anywhere in the world. Not just that but video-enabling features emulate physical proximity and give team members a sense of being in the same conference room, discussing the next big project.

In addition, mobile apps support Windows, Android and iOS devices. Team members can join the meeting from any place in the world absolutely free of cost. All they have to do is launch the meeting on their smartphones with a click. This eliminates the need to travel to a designated conference room or meeting place and thus saves a lot of time and money.

Saving resources is probably the biggest reason why companies choose to run online meetings. As mentioned, hosting a meeting at a specific place implies that all the business partners or shareholders have to travel from different parts of the globe to the place where you want to hold your meeting. Usually, the company hosting the meeting is the one that should cover the travel expenses. A substantial amount of money could definitely be saved if a company turns to online meeting apps.

There’s a great amount of meeting apps available today with various appealing functionalities This means that a company no longer has to spend a massive amount of money to gather all the team members and employees for a meeting in person.

When you think about it, meeting apps set business free. The opportunities become endless. You can assemble a team from 3 different continents, for example, and you can still get the job done.

Who Are the Big Players?

Although, as we’ve already mentioned, there are tons of meeting apps out there to choose from, not all of them are useful. Some give you basic features and require a costly payment for add-ons, while others have issues with audio or video. To avoid any frustrations and make sure the meeting will run as smoothly as possible, a company should pick a reliable and easy-to-use online conferencing app with just the right features. Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent players on the market.

Skype
Skype is probably the most well-known video conferencing platform in the world as it’s been around for a long long time. Skype’s biggest advantage is that it’s absolutely free to use. Users can make voice and video calls, create group chats, share their screens, modify the background of a video, etc. Compared to other, “fancier” meeting apps, Skype surely is lacking in some interactive areas. However, it still remains a good platform for personal and organizational use with a solid reputation.
Zoom
No surprises here. Zoom has turned into the one of the most preferred video conferencing apps because of its long line of impressive features. Some of those include HD video conferencing, screen sharing and meetings recording. In addition, Zoom allows you to share audio files, images and text during or before the meeting. With the app, you can make unlimited calls and host as many meetings as you want for up to twenty-five participants. If you’re always on the go, Zoom is the perfect app for you. There are some advanced features which come with Zoom’s paid versions but they are all worth it.
GoToMeeting
Many companies turn to GoToMeeting for their business meetings. With it, you can generate a personalized meeting URL, share screens and enjoy HD quality video. There’s also an interactive whiteboard feature which is perfect for when you have to make a presentation in front of your team. Moreover, GoToMeeting has translation control settings which is quite impressive.
WebEx
WebEx has been part of the elite meeting apps team for quite some time now. It’s commonly used because of its impressive features and a solid customer portfolio. WebEx allows you to join a meeting and share your screen, as well as chat face-to-face with your team members and still share your screen. You can also schedule appointments, email meeting attendees and quickly assemble your next online gathering. There are subscription plans but the app is quite affordable.
Join.me
250 viewers in the same room sounds great, doesn’t it? Join.me meeting app offers users a great multi-functional virtual meeting space with attractive features such as one-click scheduling, personalized meeting links, whiteboard with infinite canvas, screen sharing, presenter swap and more. The app offers a free trial. The paid version is affordable and worth every penny.

Before Building the Online Meeting App:

What is a successful meeting app? You have to ask yourself that question before moving on to building your online meeting app. The measure of success for any product and in our case any mobile conferencing application is how many people use it and what is the retention rate.
To make sure you gather a substantial amount of users who will keep coming back to your app you have to build a product that’s easy-to-use, interactive and does its main purpose without any flaws.

There are five steps in building an online meeting app:

- Determine the Purpose
What you want to build and why you want to build it? Cover the basics. Write everything down. What is your target audience and what are their needs? Craft a business model to illustrate your ideas.

- Implementation options
Do you want your meeting app to be a progressive web app, a mobile app or both?

- Approach
You have to pick an approach. Today’s technologies allow you to choose between the following:

Native app development
Hybrid app development
Compiled app development
Web app development

- Research
This is the part where you have to focus on your competitors. Do a proper research on different online meeting apps to determine specific ones that you think would be suitable for your application. Finalize a feature list and arrange all the requirements you have.

- Design & Test
The final stage is about starting the meeting app development process. Create a visual prototype. This way you can see your project in action and test it with real users. Move step by step. Divide your project into smaller pieces so that you can implement changes throughout the way and not rewrite half the code.

Highlights of the Meeting App:

Here are some basic suggestions on meeting app features for you to consider. Think out of the box but remember to keep it simple and straightforward.

Sign-in / Sign-up
Users should be able to join a meeting with a single tap functionality.

Screen Sharing
This is a must feature. Users should be able to share their device’s screen in real-time. This is important for demos, presentations and visualizing issues.

Video Collaboration
Video calls are a basic feature. Through video, team members can interact with each other and with customers and explain actions or issues more effectively and clearly.

Meetings Recorder
Users should be able to record their meetings. This feature should allow them to capture audio, video and screen sharing and then share it with other participants or download it and watch it again for reference.

Calendar Synchronization
With this feature, users can add events to their calendar. Enable automatic syncing with Google calendars.

No downloads
Keep it short - just a few clicks. Downloading is time-consuming and nobody wants to do it every time.

Organization
Users should be able to schedule team meetings, add members, presenters, etc. Also, enable users settings and notifications and co-branding for meetings.

Online meeting features:

Instant or Scheduled Meetings
Users should be enabled to plan meetings, send email invitations, schedule date, time and agenda. Also, in case of instant collaboration, users should be able to send invitations to other participants via chat, SMS, or email.

Control
When it comes to screen-sharing, users can be given the opportunity to take control over another user’s screen remotely, using your online meeting app.

Host controls
Giving control to the host, such as the ability to mute all or individual participants, remove participants, or assign another host is essential to reduce disturbances and drive the communication in the right direction.

Reminders and RSVP
This is pretty basic and straightforward. Users should be able to RSVP with a click and a host should be able to see who is attending or not. Automated email reminders, meeting details, joining links, etc. should all be included as information accessible to both the host and the attendees.

Confidential sessions
Give users the opportunity to lock confidential meetings to keep them secured from unexpected attendees. The users should get notifications if someone wants to enter the meeting.

Meeting Links
Embed meeting links on the company’s website can let team members join ongoing meetings only by entering their email.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to select the right package. Ask yourself thousands of questions, if needed to finalize your focus and idea. What are you trying to build? Do you want it to be simple, straightforward and serve for one upcoming meeting, seminar or something bigger? Or, you want to develop this project into an app that can one day compete with the big guys like Zoom? Think about all that and assemble a team of people that can help you reach your end goal.

Online meeting technologies have gone through so many changes in the past few years. However, their core functions, such as voice, video and screen sharing remain the major reason why so many organizations from all over the world are using virtual meeting apps.
If you think about it, though, most of the virtual conferencing tools companies and teams use these days have the same features. Yes, there are variations to offer. That’s why when you’re building your meeting app you have to assess each function individually and come up with a great plan on how to construct and present it to the public!

Happy app-building!