Looking for ways to make your zoom meetings even better? Everybody knows that Zoom meetings aren't going anywhere for the time being. While the vaccine is now in full swing and being administered to as many people as possible throughout the nation, medical and public health officials are still advising everyone to stay at home, stay distanced, and wear their masks. This means that if you've been keeping your work at home and on virtual standby, that's going to be continuing for a bit longer.Not to worry, however. As we've all discovered over the past year, virtual learning, teaching, and collaborating can be just as effective (sometimes, even more so!) than in-person interactions. Of course, great leaders are always looking for ways to make things even better. So, without further ado, here are a few other ways that you can improve your Zoom meetings as we wait to be fully “released” from lockdown:

Keep your eye on the clock (and don’t let meetings go too long).

Perhaps you're used to having extended meetings with your employees or coworkers when you're in a physical space like a boardroom. But on virtual calls, it's much easier to get exhausted by what's going on and become disoriented with the topic being discussed. Of course, anyone can get bored with what's going on at work — even in meetings — but if you're going to lose the attention of all of the participants in your call, what's the point in having a call in the first place?

It's a better idea to understand that taking a virtual call and participating in a virtual meeting requires more energy from your participants. Take this into consideration as you plan out your timetable. If you are in charge, keep things short, efficient, and to the point.

Do one thing at a time.

Really, this is great advice for anything in life. While we all want to be great at multitasking, science shows us time and again that multitasking is actually ineffective. If you're trying to do three things at once, it's going to take you more time to do all of those things than it would if you just did one thing at a time.

The same goes for virtual Zoom calls. If you are the person making the agenda for the call and leading the timetable, be sure to focus on one topic at a time. This is something that's going to be within your power to do as the leader, and you're going to have to enforce it — probably by cutting people off, changing the subject, or even intervening with a delicate finger on your “mute” button. That’s because, without a doubt, you should expect to have people trying to go off-topic — not because they are sinister but because it's easy to do!

Just focus on one thing at a time, and you'll instantly see how much better the meeting goes.

Show what you want to say visually.

Virtual meetings are simply different than in person meetings. This seems to go without saying, but many people don't realize it. Therefore, they don't implement the necessary tools and behaviors that are required.

One thing you can do to make Zoom calls easier is to incorporate visual cues. For example, instead of waiting for everyone to clap after someone does something worth clapping for, consider having everyone hold their hands up and wave or move their fingers back and forth. A lot of people think this sounds silly, and maybe it is, but it's far more effective than the alternative.

Finally, make sure that your communication systems are in order. Be in constant touch with your technicians and information technology department so that everything goes smoothly with each one of your calls.