Tips To Combat Virtual Meeting Overload

Are you suffering from virtual meeting overload? Are you becoming a zoom zombie in your seemingly endless virtual meetings? Virtual meeting fatigue is REAL. And we're here for you. Read more for tips and tricks to combat meeting overload.

Change your meeting location.

You can go to your backyard or move your meeting to the kitchen. The point is to vary your meeting space so you don't get bored and unmotivated. Words of caution -- be sure to designate a "personal" space to differentiate work mode from home mode.

Take a break.

• Control your calendar and add mini breaks (at least 10 - 15 min) between meetings.

• Use the breaks to step away from the screen and refresh your mind and eyes.

• Let your brain switch gears between meetings. Don't schedule back-to-back meetings.

Be present in your meetings.

This means avoid multi-tasking as we are all in the habit of doing.

Focus on the speaker.

Choose "speaker view" versus gallery view as it allows you to focus on the person speaking rather than everyone else in the "room" which can be a distraction.

Limit your video meetings per day.

But you feel obligated to your colleagues/manager/family/friends? Feel free to just say no.

• Having to worry about how you look in a video call can take its toll. An option is to turn a video call into a regular phone call (audio only).

• Alternatively, only schedule video calls during the morning (or afternoon) which frees up 1/2 your day to other activities.