Remote Meeting Collaboration Software

All remote meetings include people who aren’t sitting in the same room together. That’s where the similarities end, and that’s exactly why some of the most well-known remote meeting collaboration software fails for modern businesses. 

There are small group remote meetings and one-on-ones. There are large meetings with hundreds or even thousands of people. Some meetings are lighthearted, fun, or celebratory. Others are held for serious goal setting, problem solving, or deep data analysis. There are holiday meetings, reward meetings, termination meetings, and “welcome aboard!” meetings. 

The problem with some virtual facilitation tools is they work great for one type of meeting, maybe two. Unfortunately, most businesses will hold many different types of remote meetings over the course of a year. They shouldn’t have to use a different app or software for each meeting type. 

For example, many free software packages are chosen because they’re free. But then they aren’t always free. For instance, some are only free for small meetings. If you want to include more people, you need to pay. For some software programs, large meetings with thousands of people aren’t supported even if you do pay. 

There was a time when remote meeting solutions weren’t widely available. Businesses used what was available because they had few options. We’re no longer in those days. Remote collaboration tools are everywhere, so it’s time to choose based on what suits your virtual meeting needs rather than settling for what is familiar. 

Opening your mind to new meeting solutions may mean discovering new remote collaboration techniques. As you see what’s offered from the newest and most developed meeting software solutions, you will start using more efficient and intuitive online collaborative tools and processes. 

Why? Because your software will have the features you need to create successful meetings without wasting time trying to “make it work.” 

It’s time to start selecting tools that don’t need that manipulation. Select tools that work for you naturally because you chose them for their features, not their price tag or familiarity.

Remote Collaboration

You may know that remote collaboration is essential for your business but it can go wrong. You can also admit that remote collaboration has some shortcomings or doesn’t always work as expected. If your experiences to date have all been disappointing, don’t give up just yet. Some of the best collaboration tools may just not work for the type of virtual meetings you want to create. 

The right tools for your intended remote collaboration are out there. You just haven’t yet seen what’s possible with a premium product that you can customize to your needs. 

Consider some of the top reasons a remote collaboration can fail: 

• Remote work leads to vision-impaired perceptions. That simply means that individual team members lack clear vision on what’s happening with a project or within a team because they don’t see one another daily. For example, one person may assume another is avoiding them because messages are unreturned. The problem is they cannot see the intense meeting schedule that the other person is currently absorbed into. Seeing one another in the office is a bigger deal than many realized before COVID hit, and those distorted perceptions can lead to disconnects in remote meetings. 
• Too many tools are involved at once. You may have slideshows, spreadsheets, emails, handwritten notes, printouts, calendars, and numerous other resources. That leads to scattered thinking and lack of focus. Then there’s the time you waste finding the right paper or slide. 
• When the meeting isn’t taken seriously, there’s often a lack of advance preparation. The remote collaboration best practices you put in place aren’t followed. If even one person is unprepared, the entire meeting can suffer. 
• Glitches in software or other resources. That may happen due to lack of preparation as someone in charge didn’t fully explore the software used prior to the meeting. It may also happen because unreliable or undeveloped software is utilized. You don’t know until you know, but finding out is often painful. 

Are you ready for the good news? You can overcome all of these remote collaboration challenges by selecting advanced meeting software like Filo. 

How to Make Virtual Meetings More Interactive 

We’ve talked about the potential shortcomings of online collaborative tools. It’s time to discuss how to make virtual meetings more interactive. This is critical if you’re currently satisfied if everyone simply shows up. Brownie points if they stay awake or keep their faces on the camera rather than turning it to a pet or their desk, right? 

You want virtual meetings that drive active participation. Not because team members are put on the spot awkwardly or are threatened through emails prior to the meeting. Just because the meeting sets the right tone to encourage willing participation. 

How do you do that? 

There are a few pieces to the puzzle of a successful online collaboration: 

1. Renew your virtual meetings best practices. If your meetings are currently falling flat, the current best practices or strategies aren’t working for you. It’s time to think about what you want your meetings to feel like, sound like, and look like. Establish strategies and preparation routines that will help you create that ideal meeting. 

2. Explore new tools and resources. Now that you have a good vision for your meetings and are working from a new set of best practices, it’s time to find online collaboration tools for working together in a more vibrant, interactive manner. Look for features that allow connection and encourage willing participation. 

3. Improve what happens between meetings. You’re less likely to have an interactive, lively remote meeting if participants aren’t connecting outside of those meetings. A “room” full of strangers or even competitors feels very different than a “room” filled with teammates who know and respect one another. 

If you’re starting with best practices that are based on interaction and open communication, you’re likely to have different results from your meetings after implementing these three steps. 

Remote Collaboration Tools

What type of remote meetings do you want to hold? If you close your eyes and imagine the perfect meeting for your team, what do you see?

The only remote collaboration tools you should even consider are those that help you create some element of that vision. If a tool can help you create multiple elements and is intuitive for people on both sides of the meeting, it’s a real winner. 

Free online collaboration tools are everywhere, but you shouldn’t choose them because they’re free. Only choose them if they will help you create the type of meetings that reflect your company culture or team goals. The same goes for choosing a collaboration or meeting software because you’ve used it before and it’s familiar or you know other people who recommend it. 

If it doesn’t fit your vision for a successful remote meeting, it doesn’t work for you at this time. The price tag doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work, or even worse, it sets your meetings up for failure. 

How can online collaboration tools lead to productive teamwork?

It comes down to selecting interactive tools for virtual meetings with care. You want to invest in one software that can improve communication and collaboration every single day. It should provide adequate meeting space while enhancing the day-to-day routines of every teammate. 

Imagine functioning as a team rather than individuals on a daily basis. Maybe it once seemed impossible, but it’s possible today. In fact, many businesses are already enjoying the benefits of daily virtual connection because they’re using Filo in a personalized manner. 

Best Remote Collaboration Tools

If it’s possible to bring your team together and escape the boredom of failed virtual meetings, how do you make it happen with all the challenges of the modern business world? You do it by selecting a premium remote collaboration tool like Filo. 

Instead of assembling a collection of the best remote collaboration tools like Miro Whiteboard, Trello, Slack, Microsoft Whiteboard, and Zoom, try one software that can do it all plus more than you ever imagined. That’s where Filo steals the cake from popular free collaboration tools for remote teams. 

This one software serves as your online whiteboard plus your internal communication system, virtual conference room, video sharing software, and much more. Whether your team is fully remote, partially remote, or exploring hybrid setups, every member of the team will feel connected even when a big meeting isn’t taking place. 

If you closed your eyes earlier and envisioned a remote meeting where everyone entered with a smile and felt connected to one another before the first word was spoken, you envisioned a meeting supported by Filo. It’s the virtual office that feels a lot like the in-person office of old times. 

Yet, it has all the tools you need to create new strategies that generate more interactive meetings with just the right energy. The working world is different today than it was just two years ago. This new world calls for different best practices and tools.