There may be no single ideal solution to this problem; however, according to an article on the management-issues.com website, there are some simple steps you can take so as to improve the chances of starting and finishing your next virtual meeting on time.
Why do online meetings run late?
- People don’t show up on time
- The meeting is delayed by technical issues
Start at quarter past the hour: People frequently have so much in their schedules that, very often, previous meetings make it impossible for them to show up on time. Therefore, schedule your meetings for 14:15 rather than 14:00. Use buffer time to your advantage.
Start the meeting when the crucial people are connected: For the majority of meetings, the presence of everyone invited is not necessary. If all the decision makers are present, just start.
Encourage others to log in earlier: Encourage people to log onto the virtual call 10 minutes early. Then they can continue to answer e-mails or do something else. The trick here is that all the usual challenges of a virtual meeting (such as unexpected software updates) will occur in those 10 minutes.
Make sure all virtual meetings have been entered in the calendar: Have you ever experienced last-minute requests for log-in information? Did people start looking for how to connect only when the meeting was about to start? If possible, use the link you have in your scheduling tool to load information automatically into participants' calendars.
-jk-