In today’s fast-paced business world, effective communication and collaboration are more critical than ever. While traditional face-to-face meetings have their place, the rise of technology has opened up exciting new possibilities. Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a game-changer in the way we conduct meetings, offering a unique and immersive experience that transcends physical boundaries.

This blog will explore, how to conduct effective meetings in VR, harnessing the power of this transformative technology to supercharge your team’s productivity.

1. Choose the right VR headset

The foundation of conducting effective meetings in VR starts with selecting the appropriate VR headset. With various options available, such as Meta Quest, HTC Vive, Pico, Lenovo ThinkReality VRX, and the Apple Vision Pro, it’s essential to find the headset that aligns with your team’s needs.

Consider factors like ease of use, compatibility, and the availability of collaboration features. Your choice of VR headset sets the stage for a seamless virtual meeting experience.

2. Ensure attendees are VR ready

Before diving into a VR meeting, it’s crucial to ensure that all participants are comfortable and proficient with using VR headsets. Consider the following steps:

• Pre-Meeting VR Orientation: Provide attendees with access to a pre-meeting orientation session where they can familiarize themselves with the VR headset’s operation. This could include a brief tutorial or a practice session in a virtual environment.
• Technical Support: Offer technical support resources in case participants encounter any issues with their VR headsets. Having knowledgeable assistance readily available can alleviate concerns and ensure a smooth start to the meeting.
• Test Sessions: Allow participants to test their VR setups before the actual meeting. This gives them an opportunity to troubleshoot and address any potential problems in advance.
• Provide Detailed Instructions: Share detailed instructions on how to wear, adjust, and use the VR headset, as well as how to access the virtual meeting space. Clear, step-by-step guidance can boost attendees’ confidence.

3. Choose the right VR platform

Selecting the appropriate VR platform is the cornerstone of conducting effective meetings in a virtual environment. Different VR platforms offer various features and capabilities, so it’s essential to find the one that best aligns with your team’s needs.

Some examples include Remio VR, VirtualSpeech, Meetin VR and Horizon Workrooms.

4. Know the goal of the meeting

Is your meeting intended to generate new ideas, make decisions or gather information? Perhaps it’s a combination of all three? If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, you can be pretty sure it won’t happen.

If you set a specific goal for a meeting, people are better prepared. Perhaps the goal of the meeting is to brainstorm new project ideas. If attendees have an agenda, they can come up with ideas prior to the meeting so that no time is wasted when the meeting begins.

Serious decisions may require pre-wiring. In essence, this involves communicating one-on-one with people before the meeting about a decision. When this is done, the meeting has more chance of being successful.

5. Prepare an agenda

A vague intention to cover a certain topic in a meeting does not produce effective results. You need to prepare a specific agenda for a meeting and make sure it is in the hands of the people who will attend at least the day before. Everyone attending a meeting should have a clear idea of why they are gathered and what needs to be accomplished.

Make sure that your agenda includes who will attend, the time and location, a list of the topics to be covered and a brief description of the objectives of the meeting. Any background information attendees need to know may also be included.

If you have a weekly meeting to discuss the status of a project, preparing a template for an agenda that allows you to fill in the blanks each week helps to save time.

6. Make sure the right people attend

You need to carefully consider who to invite to a meeting. The people in the VR room can make or break the meeting. You need to invite those who will help you to achieve your objectives. Limit the number of attendees as far as possible because it’s more difficult to pick up on body language if the room is full and the more people there are, the less pressure they feel to participate.

7. Pay attention to time

When no-one is conscious of the time, it is easy to go on for too long and become unfocused. If you are leading a meeting, you should try to start and finish on time. If you regularly hold meetings, people will know you start and end promptly and are more likely to attend your meetings.

You want to make every second count, and this is where your agenda comes in handy. You can prioritize important topics and allow a specific time for each topic. You could put the agenda up on a virtual whiteboard in VR for others to see to help keep attendees focused.

It’s very likely that 30 minutes into a meeting, attention is not as sharp as it was at the beginning. The longer meetings drag on, the fewer people pay attention. Meetings should not go on for longer than an hour if you help it.

8. Keep the focus, avoid going off topic

This does not mean being so inflexible that you ignore interesting points that are raised if they do not relate to the agenda. A good way to handle this is to acknowledge the input and suggest that it will be included in the meeting notes and explored at another time.

It’s up to you to find a way to deal with guiding the meeting back to the assigned topic, allowing each person the chance to participate and being conscious of one person talking more than his or her fair share. You also need to make sure that people don’t talk over each other and cover the same points.

Keeping a meeting focused takes some skill, and it may help to learn some fundamental communication skills through online classes. VirtualSpeech offers online classes where you can practice these skills in immersive virtual reality. You can use real-time voice analysis and tracking technology to identify areas that need improving.

You will get feedback on issues such as your speaking pace and eye contact. These factors could make a significant difference in how you present your ideas and keep a corporate meeting focused. You will also learn to listen more effectively.

9. Take notes in VR

If you plan to send out summaries or minutes of the meeting, you should mention this at the start of the meeting. Emailing a memo documenting responsibilities given, tasks delegated and deadlines assigned keeps everyone on the same page and allows for accountability.

If you’ve come to the end of a meeting without having some actionable next steps, the meeting was most likely a waste of time. If you’ve managed to maintain a clear focus, you should have a concrete plan of action and be able to follow up on it.