As we now pass a month since we have been working remotely, our days consist of countless virtual meetings, many of them with video. We also have added social meetings with FaceTime and Zoom. In fact, many of our schedules are more jammed packed than ever trying to keep up with business and personal relationships.
Video meeting fatigue is real.
So, this week, I have collected my favorite tips and strategies to combat video meeting fatigue to help us all stay sane and avoid burnout.
Watch the live lesson from a Facebook Live inside the Marketers Take Flight Co-Working Community.
Lesson Highlights
Here are some of the highlights from the lesson.
Tip #1 Keep Meetings Brief
I am a big proponent of meetings when they are useful and purposeful. I think now more than ever more people are calling meetings to appear like they are working. I would challenge you and your teams to keep meetings brief. Try to schedule them for 45-minutes instead of an hour or 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes.
Tip #2 What’s On & Behind Your Screen Matters
Video meetings can be exhausting because your brain is being presented with lots of visual content, especially in the Zoom meetings that look like the Brady Bunch intro or Hollywood Squares. On top of all of the talking heads, there is the backgrounds behind the participants – whethers it’s dogs barking, cats in the way, children, or just a busy background of bookcases, patterned curtains or other home decors, it’s way more information than our brains are used to getting all at once.
Instead, switch your settings to speaker view or opt for a more focused visual experience.
Tip #3 Take Notes on Paper
I am a big believer in writing notes on paper. I have since I was in school, yes, even before laptops were widespread.
There is lots of research to show that writing things down by hand activates your brain to think in a different way, increasing retention and memory, and resulting in a deeper level of cognition.
So while our days are filled with screen time for both work and our social lives, that doesn’t mean that you can’t rely on a paper notebook or planner to keep you more rooted.
Raise of hands (or comments below) if you have a notebook similar to this or a planner like this to take notes?
Extra bonus tip: Whenever we get to go to conferences again, I love stocking up on the notebooks. So if you have to do tradeshow giveaways, those are a big hit.
Tip #4 Avoid Back to Back Meetings
Honesty check here….how many Zoom, Team, GoToMeeting, or whatever video calls have you had today? This week?
Avoid scheduling back to back meetings is just good rule of thumb, but I think it’s especially important now that all meetings are online and not in conference rooms. Also, we are home and may need to check on kids, spouses or pets.
If you are in 4-6 hours of meetings all day, how are you supposed to get any work done?
I like to put at least a 15-minute buffer in between my meetings. In fact, when people schedule calls with me using Calendly, I built in a 15-minute buffer into that system. People can’t physically schedule a meeting next to another one.
Also, remember tip #1 Keep meetings brief? If you are trying to keep them shorter, it makes it easier to avoid back to back meetings.
Even if you only have 15 minutes between meetings, that’s better than nothing. You can check in your email, make sure the kids are still alive and haven’t totally destroyed your house, and maybe even be able to step outside or walk around your house which is typically a good mental break.
Another bonus tip is to put meetings for yourself on your calendar. Block out that time for you to do work, spend time with your kids and their work, or other personal time, if needed during the normal workday. If I need to get a presentation done (like this one) or work on client work, I block that time off on my calendar so no one else (internally or externally) can schedule a meeting.
Like I said earlier, this is a good strategy even when we are back in the office working. It’s really not the technology that’s getting in our way, it’s much more of a human problem and setting boundary problem.
Tip #5 Phone Calls are Still Okay
On the same note as boundaries, we still have options when it comes to communicating. Not every meeting has to be a video meeting.
We had lots of conference calls before COVID-19 and it’s still okay to have them now.
Depending on the topic and objective of the meeting, audio may just be as good as audio+video.
This is also true in your personal life. I don’t facetime much with my parents and I am happy about that. When I talk with my mom each week, we do so via phone call only and it’s great because I can go outside, I can go on a walk, or I can straighten the house while we talk.
Tip #6 Give Your Eyes a Break
It doesn’t matter how your home office set up is or if you have the latest blue light blocking glasses, your eyes need a break from all of that screentime.
Between meetings, step away from the screen. Go outside if you have can, even if only for a few minutes. If you can’t go outside, look out the window. There is something about looking into nature that is just calming.
Doctors recommend a full 10-15 minute break from screen time for every two hours of work.
I have even started turning off the TV at night and reading a good old fashioned book, not even on my Kindle. I need to give my eyes a rest.
Tip #7 Take the Weekend Off
This past weekend I did no work. I didn’t work on Full Sail Partners client work and I didn’t work on Marketers Take Flight work. I barely got on social media. I really just veged out. I did clean out my daughter’s room on Saturday but other than that and some cooking, I did almost nothing.
It was great. I sat outside on our back deck and read. I watched some Netflix shows. I slept in later than I have in years. Until 9am both Saturday and Sunday!
I felt really refreshed coming into the new week. We are all stuck at home and may feel like we need to do things. Especially if we have kids. We feel like we have to keep them entertained, especially since they don’t have their normal activities.
If you find that your social life is even busier with Zoom Happy Hours, catching up with friends and family, and doing activities with the kids, take the next weekend off.
Avoid scheduling any virtual hangouts this next weekend. Give yourself that time to be totally unstructured about how you spend your day.
Want More?
Like these tips and want more?
I am going live inside the Marketers Take Flight Co-Working Community each week to cover a different topic that helps marketers in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry navigate the new normal of working from home, producing proposals remotely, and winning more work for their firms.
Join the Marketers Take Flight Co-Working Community here 👇🏻 https://www.facebook.com/groups/marketerstakeflight/
