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team members to see with their own eyes that everyone in the room is fully engaged , and not scrolling Instagram . Always appoint a moderator or MC . Having a consistent face and voice that “ stitches together ” the virtual sessions for participants adds much-needed familiarity and helps to lessen feelings of isolation that may come with remote work . One good tip is to have the event moderator open up the conference or meeting , while taking charge of staying on the agenda and moderating questions for speakers as they pop up in the sideline chat . Test your technology . If you haven ’ t used Zoom or Skype in more than a few days , open your software before the scheduled time and test out both the video and microphone quality . This saves everybody time , while allowing you to skip the “ CAN YOU HEAR ME ?” section of the meeting . Leverage silence . Insist that everyone use the Mute button to prevent audio feedback and keep breathing , writing and fidgeting noises to a bare minimum .
l Know when the conversation should switch to a different medium . Just like in-person meetings , ask yourself the purpose and proposed outcome and eliminate digital meetings that lack a clear purpose or are missing a key factor for success .
Pulse : You have said we all leave a digital impression on one another . Is it possible to fix a poor first digital impression ? D : Like with any first impression , it is possible to improve but it takes intentional effort and asking good questions . Here are three ways to fix a poor first digital impression .
First , understand what drives the other person ’ s pet peeves . Does this person cringe at grammar mistakes ? Does it irrationally annoy him when people send overly long emails ? A lack of agendas for video calls ?
Second , ask them about their preferred digital communication style , based on the complexity and urgency of information . For example , do they prefer to receive long emails covering many topics or individual emails for individual topics ? Do they prefer to be kept in the loop on
JANUARY 2023 n PULSE 13