I've been working from home since mid-2017 and, over the years, I've unconsciously collected strategies for staying focused during virtual meetings. I realize now that some of these are focusing strategies common to folks with ADHD, which I was diagnosed with at the beginning of this year. Woohoo, neurodiversity! 🎉
In the spirit of the Virtual Coffee November 2022 Challenge for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), here are my strategies to survive virtual meetings. Without these, the disembodied voices from my laptop go in one ear and out the other. 😂
Just Say No
I decline meetings I don’t need to be in. Working for a large corporation, my inbox is flooded with newsletters, meeting invites, and whatnot from departments I’ve never even heard of. If I’m not sure if I need to attend or the agenda is unclear, I’ll message the organizer to get more clarification and check if I’m needed. I make sure to send a reason for declining if the organizer personally invites me, so they know I’m not just blowing them off arbitrarily.
Take All the Notes!
My notes are some combination of verbatim transcript, questions, rephrasing of ideas in my own words, and incomplete sentences, all formatted within satisfyingly uniform, nested bullets (yay, bullet points). I like to make sure both my notes and the meeting window are visible, either by splitting the screen or using multiple monitors. I rarely look back at my notes, unless it’s to pull a link or remember a question/follow up item. It’s more of a strategy to stay engaged rather than a beautifully curated reference.
Move Ya Body
Over the last couple years, I’ve found the joy of turning off my camera and moving around during calls. I usually stretch or walk around the room. Sometimes, I pace around the garden when the weather is nice (I’m spoiled by California weather). I used to have a manager who loved to have walking check-ins (unless we needed to talk about something requiring a room/computer).
For virtual meetings, the key is having a good wireless headset. I’ve been using the Jabra Evolve 75 for many years now and love it (Jabra has more headset options now). I recently got Apple Airpods Pros as a gift, which I appreciate for the ease of connectivity to my Apple devices. The biggest flaw to this setup is if I forget to charge my headset after a long day of meetings, so I always keep a wired headset nearby just in case.
Face Time
There are some meetings where I prefer to have my camera on, so folks can see my unspoken reaction to things (I make faces more than I say things). We’re on calls so much these days, I have to be strategic about when to turn on my camera, otherwise I get camera fatigue. I save camera time for smaller, more intimate, or social calls. My current webcam is the Logitech C920s Pro HD (I love the built-in privacy shutter), which has served me well and has nicer image quality than the built-in laptop camera.
I find that I can’t have my self view on, otherwise I’m distracted by checking that I’m making a socially appropriate face and don’t act very naturally. 🤪 I also try to put the view of other folks’ faces near my camera, so when I speak or listen, I’m looking straight at them, like I would in-person.
Engagement Light
It takes me a long time to digest information, so I usually don’t have follow up questions or input immediately after a discussion (as well as struggling with anxiety about speaking up). Here are some ways I still try to (lightly) engage in meetings:
- Asking clarifying questions that rephrase an idea the way I understand it and checking with the speaker if that sounds right.
- Reminding everyone about the agenda if we stray too far from the main topic.
- Giving a 10-15 minute warning when we’re getting close to time and asking what we want to accomplish by the end of the meeting.
- Calling out action/follow-up items and who will take ownership of said items.
Final Thoughts
- Fidgeting - I've noticed that I fidget with random things on my desk and have been considering getting an actual fidget toy. I’m liking the look of these Fidgetland toys (thanks to Kai for the recommendation in this amazing ADHD resource article).
- Multi-tasking - I don’t believe in doing other mentally taxing things when I’m in meetings (chat, email, tickets, etc), unless it’s a meeting intended for everyone to get work done. If we’ve decided that we all need a meeting, then we should all be engaged in the conversation, otherwise it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
Of course, this is an incomplete list that will evolve with time. I’m hopeful that, as we all develop better strategies to work from home, that virtual meetings will continue to become more engaging, thoughtful, and welcoming.
Thanks for reading. Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with virtual meetings!
Top comments (3)
Love this so much. Meetings are not the best way to engage with me most days, so I really appreciated this: “It takes me a long time to digest information, so I usually don’t have follow up questions or input immediately after a discussion.” I’m very deliberate about thinking through my processes and get anxious and frustrated when I’m not given the opportunity to do so.
High five for the bullet points and 1001 facial expressions! 😜😁
And thanks for sharing! So many valuable things that I can pick up from your post! 😃
I only now noticed you had mentioned me in this post! 😊 Awesome tips!
I’ve got a bit of addition now that I’ve figured out that I respond much better to visual stims than physical stims (e.g. fidgets) — in case other people have the same quirk. I made myself some stim bottles with water, food colouring, and mica powder. You shake them up and then can just watch the galaxies inside of them, it’s pretty cool. There are also some phone apps that let you play with colours (e.g. Fluid Simulation, Magic Fluids Lite — both on Google Play store).
Also, in a recent 2-hour meeting that required me to listen but not do anything, I got out a colouring book and some alcohol-based markers and that really helped me stay tuned in. 🖍️