A complete guide to Asynchronous Meetings and Remote Communications |

Before the transition to working remotely I was employed as part of a remote team at a digital bank that was constantly experimenting with various types of mixed remote meetings which generally ran easily.

It's however not an simple to increase the efficiency of your meetings or to ensure that you have a good communication in remote meetings, or decide on what type of meeting you want to hold initially.

This document (based on research as well as personal experience) will help you understand the various types of meetings that can be conducted remotely, and how to run them effectively with some tips and tricks, choosing the right tools for the job, and also the most common etiquette for virtual meetings.

Types of remote meetings

It's possible that you didn't give this a lot of thought however, there's actually numerous types of remote meeting types (and you're probably already a little familiar with them). With greater tech advancement in this area it has become possible communicate with remote workers and other team members using either of the following primary methods or a combination of them!

Teleconferencing

In all of the kinds of remote meetings we'll talk about, teleconferencing is possibly the oldest and most tested method. Because it is a type of phone that only uses audio and teleconferencing technology is more advanced and simple than the others in this list.

It is basically that the meeting host will be 'on the phone's line at the time of the meeting, when the other members of the team will dial into' the meeting using a specific phone number. Naturally, this kind of meeting is best suited for small groups of people -- not being able to see one another could cause confusion when multiple participants are talking simultaneously.

Video conferencing

Since the start of a specific pandemic around 2020, video conferencing has become an essential part aspects of our lives, thanks to programs like Zoom meetings, as well as Microsoft Teams.

Video meetings (conferences) are similar in pattern to teleconferencing, in the sense that hosts host a real-time meeting where participants 'dial in' using the link or a phone number. What makes them different however, is that you're able to see each other and use software to make the video conferences more effective and more engaging.

Web conferencing

Thirdly, the most common virtual meeting type is web conference. It is easy to mix this one up with video conferencing, but there's a distinctionWeb conferences are typically used to host virtual events (like all-hands meeting), online training, or for project collaboration, where the meeting has the benefit of a practical aspect to it.

Naturally, this can be a great option for large-scale projects or business-wide meetings and could be setup in a similar method to video conferences, or it can be arranged with ticketed attendance and pre-registration.

To add another layer to the various types of meetings, there is also the option to'sync meeting', or async.

What exactly is an asynchronous conference?

Asynch-based meetings are one type of communication that doesn't happen in real-time and also doesn't normally require an immediate response.

Synchronous communication vs asynchronous communication

At that digital bank job I talked about earlier the team worked extremely difficult to ensure that the remote staff felt comfortable as well as part of the decision-making process, status updates, check-ins, and team building events. In order to achieve this, they had to make use of both synchronous and asynchronous meetings, but each has their pros and cons.

 Advantages of synchronous meeting:

• The most closely matches in-person gatherings.
• immediate feedback regarding action things or discussion points.
• Communication in real-time can allow you to bounce ideas off each other more quickly.

 What's not so great:

• Most of the time it is possible to meet people that are quiet, or introverted who struggle to participate.
• On the other hand, if everyone has something interesting to share, the discussion can quickly become a hot chaos of individuals speaking in a snarky manner.
• The risk is that you will experience technological delays or network faults in the time you're needing it most.

 Asynchronous Meetings: Benefits:

• When there's no pressure to make a statement immediately, everyone gets a chance for the voice of their choice to be heard.
• Being able to schedule suitable times for meetings that were distributed globally or with night employees of shift teams (something my previous workplace benefited tremendously).

 What's not so great:

• Based on Buffer's State of Remote Work report, 20% of respondents claimed that loneliness was their main issue (which I can also attest), sync meetings are your chance to 'see' the other members of your group, therefore moving into asynchronous communications can add to the feeling of loneliness.
• If an immediate response isn't needed, sometimes team members might forget to respond or follow up altogether.
• A common issue with remote work according the Statista, which also applies to async meetings (since they may be going in and out throughout the workday) is not being able unplug.

In the end, taking a look at the pros and cons there's no doubt that it's about picking the appropriate format for the occasion instead of choosing either of the extreme. But, I'll focus a little more on the async meetings from here on out (since they're not as well known).

How do you run a successful Asynchronous Meeting

Now that you've figured out what types of remote meetings there are as well as different ways to go about the process, but how can conduct an actual online meeting? This can be a bit of a head-scratcher when you're used to having real-time meetings.

As I have no personal experience with conducting meetings (only participating in meetings), I asked a couple of experts, among them an ex-Project Manager who became a freelance writer, Laura Bosco, what they thought made for efficient and productive meeting asynchronously. Here's the things she had to say:

 "--the the context and structure of the async communications have been major factors for me -- and still are when I work with my clients.

Context: Some kinds of feedback, announcements, or questions are more sensitive or easily misinterpreted. In these cases, video can be more effective than text as the other person can hear your tone and see your face. This minimizes misconceptions and relational harm.

Format: Big fan of BLUF (bottom-line-up-front) in most written comms. For one, it's much more effective. If your request is concise and succinctly stated, you're much more likely to receive the response you need. For another, it's a way to demonstrate empathy to the individual. You show respect for their time and daily influx of messages.

 Also, text formatting. Bullets, headers, bold or italics when you are making important requests...these do not devalue the receiver. They assist them to digest the communication ."

Laura isn't alone to suggest providing context is the most effective way to utilize async messaging. Michael Steele, CEO of Flywheel Digital (a remote-first technical marketing agency), who is a big fan of using Notion, Google Docs, and Slack for their tech stack. He also said:

 "A major factor in achieving success when it comes to synchronous communications, which includes employees and clients is the ability to give context. Everybody involved needs to understand the purpose of communication and the most recent developments or events worth noting, and easy access to foundational documents like strategies as well as marketing personas and the performance reports.

 With no context for synchronous communication, miscommunications are common and the time spent fixing mistakes or making changes which could easily be prevented with the correct details available from the very beginning."

In terms of the actual aspect of conducting meetings the founder of ScrapingBee (a 100% remote company) Kevin Sahin says that besides having short real-time meetings that are facilitated with memos written in Notion as well, they use Slack:

"Slack is asynchronous and it uses Slack status to know if a co-worker is available for a call or not. When we send messages to Slack and we do not expect to receive a response immediately. That's what the purpose of it. Our general approach is to choose the most effective tool for the job."

For an efficient asynchronous conference one must make sure you're using tools that are properly designed, and provide context as well as the issues you're addressing are presented in a way that's simple and fast to manage.

9 ways for planning and executing the perfect remote conference

No matter if your remote conference is synchronous or not, there are still a few generally applicable tips to ensure that they run smoothly. A few of these suggestions come from existing research, but others come from personal experience. They will be discussed in a before, during, and after arrangement for people who favor real-time. However, the information applies for async meetings.

 Before the meeting:

1. Be sure that only those who are essential are allowed to attend. If you overcrowd the virtual gathering, whether that's an online video conference or Slack channel, information can rapidly be lost, and fewer participants will be able to take part.
   
2. Make a crystal-clear schedule. You can set agendas for either real-time or async-based meetings using any software you prefer When I worked in the bank, we developed Notion templates with fill-in sections such as the issues we're dealing with and action points.
   
3. Create meeting guidelines. Laura also mentioned an interesting strategy she likes to use, which is to create and share "how to work alongside me" documentation ( like this one) for helping define norms and expectations in meetings, as well as for other communications.

 In the course of the conference:

1. Start and finish within the timeframe. This point is especially true for real-time remote meetings. It's anything worse than showing up to a meeting late or overrunning. The time of the attendees is valuable. This is also the case for meetings that are scheduled in async. If you don't respond promptly in a reasonable way, your information could either get lost or other deadlines might get not met.
   
2. Be brief. Similar to the above point, there's not much use in an hour-long meeting in real-time when you can achieve the goals you need to make using async communications or shorter sessions. In terms of the async method, try to avoid writing massive walls of text or long interspersed pauses on recorded videos.
   
3. Make sure everyone can be heard or recognized. As I mentioned earlier, not everyone has the qualities to be able to voice their opinions in real-time discussions, and async communications allows those who aren't to speak up. As the manager or as a host is still essential to be vigilant about the participation of members.

 Following the session:

1. Receive feedback from your attendees. If you're experimenting in different meetings, it's essential to get feedback from the attendees so that you can figure the things that aren't effective in terms of the style of communication and channel. Certain software is more effective than others, depending on the type of person.
   
2. Provide a means of follow-up communication. Generally speaking, it's good to establish a way to communicate or a virtual area where people can offer specific points regarding the meeting or updates on action points without clogging with meetings.
   

If you're thinking at this point, "those tips are all great and well however, what is the programs?", this next section has got you covered.

Software to facilitate remote meetings

Of course, one of the most important considerations when having remote meetings of any sort is to make sure that you're equipped with the appropriate technology for the meeting to begin with. For synchronous meetings, naturally popular video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams/Skype, and Google Meet do the trick fairly well, but it's slightly different with async meetings.

A few of the most well-known asynchronous meeting software (which also happen to be mostly tools for managing projects) Some, which have already been mentioned, are:

•   Slack
•   Trello
•   Google Docs
•   Asana
•   Notion
•   Basecamp
• If you're a team of developers, Gitlab or Github is a good option.

The right software for your virtual meeting

Most of the collaboration tools I've listed above are text-based or for messaging and others can be a mix of images, text or video. So, just as Laura stated in the past, context and formatting are key.

 For simple project updates

If you're looking for a way to get your team members up to current on what the project's state is, software like Trello, Asana, and Notion are excellent for this. For example, I (and my old workplace) utilize Notion  boards to provide an overview of project statuses and also for comments.

It is possible to create a similar  board-like organization with each of the applications mentioned above.

 For continuous updates

If your team or project requires a simple way to get in touch with but doesn't require regular meetings that are held in-person Most of the tools discussed are acceptable, Basecamp in particular is excellent, however Slack takes the cake on this particular aspect.

My old job had each team would have its own Slack channel to have basically asynchronous stand-ups, while there were also companies-wide channels to share general information. However, I don't have access to this particular Slack workspace anymore, but I do have some Slack workspaces that I utilize similarly:

 For more intricate or sensitive data

Just as Laura said, certain kinds of information need a more human touch. You don't want to have data that is misunderstood or is lost in the shuffle of posts and projects. To avoid this, it is best to use video, and has your back.

In addition, you're also able to keep track of who's viewed your video and collaborate on the comment section.

It's not always easy to determine which software or method to use since every team is different, therefore it's worthwhile to test the waters early and not being afraid to change your mind if something doesn't work for you.

The remote playbook: etiquette for meetings that take place online

The last topic we're going to cover in this guide is the etiquette of meetings. Certain aspects may be familiar to those who have been through what we've already covered, but it's worth summarizing the most common remote meeting etiquette looks similar to.

For synchronous meetings, we've all had plenty of Zoom calls that taught us these general guidelines (and often, they're broken):

• Be sure to not be talking on mute while you're speaking.
• Find a quiet spot to allow other guests to focus on your (not your washing machine running in the background).
• Test the features you want to use before you start so that you don't waste time trying to figure it out in the course of your discussion.

However, the situation is somewhat different when you consider meeting that are synchronous, and manner of conduct can differ based on the mode of communication or channel of communication.

for text-based channels (e.g. Notion, Slack etc.)

• Keep on-topic information in the appropriate channel/thread/page (or in the event that you're discussing an item of interest, include a hyperlink to the thread or page).
• Don't treat it like mail. That's how I define acknowledging a message or a task instead of leaving it in your email inbox (in Slack you can make a mark on a message using an emoji! ).
• Be mindful that people have private lives. When using asynchronous communication is easy to forget that there are people operating at the same time with you. Make sure that someone is online before potentially sending them a push notification.

 for synchronous video conferences

• Make sure your camera and microphones are of high enough for others to be able to grasp what you're talking about.
• Do you have a clear message that you want to impart to other people -- nobody is looking to watch the same video for hours and not know something new.

These are only general etiquette tips. You may be in a position to have your own guidelines for communication to each other, and which technology to use. This is why it is possible to keep these to mind when learning how to use them or creating these rules.

You can get off to a positive start with remote meetings

Similar to most relationships in life communicating effectively is the most important factor in a successful business day However, it doesn't always have to be in actual time.

Remote meetings that are synchronous can assist you in having better conversations, engage more of your team members as well as create a culture of openness (since communications that are synchronously conducted are typically recorded). If you're thinking about using a more asynchronous method, consider experimenting with different tools to find out the best solution for you.