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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →More productive remote meetings start with a simple choice: meet live when people need to discuss something uncertain, make a decision together, or build connection; use an asynchronous update when the goal is simply to share information. For meetings that are worthwhile, state the outcome in advance, prepare for inclusive participation, and leave with clear decisions and action owners.
Decide whether the work needs a meeting
Before booking time, identify what should be different when the meeting ends. Is the group resolving an open question, making a consequential decision, coordinating interdependent work, or strengthening relationships? Those tasks can benefit from real-time exchange. A routine announcement or status update may work better in a shared, searchable channel where people can read and respond when they are able.
Compare the options against the work itself:
- Interaction: Does the task need back-and-forth discussion, or can people consider it independently?
- Urgency and consequence: Is a prompt joint decision needed, or is there time for a considered response?
- Connection: Would conversation help people build shared understanding or working relationships?
- Access: Can everyone participate at the proposed time, given time zones, working hours, and accessibility needs?
- Record: Would a durable, searchable written update serve people better than a live conversation?
Microsoft Research’s 2021 guide to more intentional remote meetings notes that asynchronous communication can be easier to search and gives people more time to consider issues, while meetings can support complex discussion and connection. The guide’s authors put it this way: “Our position is that thoughtless collaboration will always be poor collaboration no matter how good or bad the technology is.”
Prepare an invitation people can act on
A calendar invitation should explain why participants are needed and what they should help accomplish—not just name a topic. Put the desired outcome and agenda in the invite, link relevant materials, and say what preparation is expected. Google Workspace recommends sharing an agenda at least 24 hours ahead in its guidance on inclusive hybrid meetings.
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- Define the outcome: For example, “Choose one of the two launch plans” is more actionable than “Discuss launch.”
- Build an agenda around that outcome: Give each item a purpose and enough time for discussion; reserve time to agree on next steps.
- Invite for contribution: Include people whose input, decision, or execution is needed. Avoid adding attendees merely for visibility.
- Share materials early: Send usable documents or links, not only information that will be shown briefly on screen.
- Check the practicalities: Choose a duration that fits the agenda, consider time zones and working hours, and provide a way for people who cannot attend to catch up.
There is no universally ideal meeting length established by the sources cited here. Set the duration from the work required, rather than treating a default calendar slot as a target.
Agree on how participation will work
Remote participants cannot always read the room or find a natural pause to speak. At the start, explain how the group will use chat and hand-raising, who will facilitate, and how people can contribute if speaking is difficult. Microsoft Research’s guide offers the prompts CHARM: Chat, Hand raising, Agenda, Recording, Moderator, and Support. Use the relevant prompts to make expectations explicit, including whether the meeting will be recorded.
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Then manage the conversation deliberately:
- Make turns visible: invite one speaker at a time and leave a real pause for responses rather than filling every silence.
- Offer more than one input route, such as voice and chat; use a poll when a quick structured response is useful.
- Invite people who have not spoken to add a perspective, without putting them on the spot or treating silence as consent.
- In a working session, keep a shared agenda or notes document active and have someone surface relevant comments into the discussion.
- Rotate facilitator and note-taker roles when it helps distribute the work.
For hybrid meetings, watch for unequal access to the floor: room conversations and side comments can exclude people joining remotely. Make shared materials visible to everyone and monitor chat and hand-raising alongside in-room participation. Google advises avoiding separate in-room and remote conversations; Microsoft Research notes that in some hybrid situations, having everyone join from their own device can help level participation.
Make access part of the setup
Accessibility is not a feature to add only after someone has trouble joining. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative’s guidance on accessible remote meetings recommends considering platform features, audio quality, captions, and accessible materials.
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- Test audio and video before the meeting, and address unreliable or unclear audio.
- Provide captions when available, and check their accuracy when the content matters; automated captions can make errors.
- Share documents in accessible, usable formats ahead of time. Provide the original structured document rather than relying only on a rasterized screen share, which screen-reader users cannot navigate in the same way.
- Offer an alternative way to contribute if a meeting control, such as a hand-raise function, is inaccessible to someone.
These steps improve the chance that participants can follow and contribute, but they do not establish that any particular platform meets every person’s needs. Ask participants what access arrangements will work for them.
Close with decisions, owners, and a record
Reserve the final minutes to state what the group decided, what remains unresolved, and who owns each follow-up. Capture action items with an owner and, where useful, a due date. Share notes, relevant chat contributions, and materials afterward with attendees and anyone who could not join. A short written record makes the meeting’s outcome easier to find than relying on memory.
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For recurring meetings, periodically ask participants whether the meeting still has a clear purpose, whether the right people are present, and whether the format supports useful and inclusive contributions. Change or cancel the series if the work no longer warrants synchronous time.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Reduce fatigue by improving the work, not just the call
Meeting fatigue is not explained by call duration alone. A qualitative Microsoft Research study of 849 employees at one global technology company examined all-remote video meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors describe tensions between effectiveness and social connection and argue that fatigue was partly related to work practices and technologies that under-supported the social dimensions of work relationships. That study offers context, not a universal diagnosis or a current estimate of how many workers experience fatigue.
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In January 2022, Pew Research Center surveyed 2,767 U.S. adults employed part or full time whose primary job could be done from home. Among workers who often used online conferencing for work, 74% said they were fine with their time spent on video calls and 26% said they were worn out by it. Those figures describe that specific U.S. survey, not today’s global workforce.
In practice, reduce unnecessary calls, make the remaining ones purposeful, and allow different ways to participate. Neither keeping cameras on by default nor buying new equipment is a universal cure. Reliable audio can matter for inclusion, but tools cannot compensate for unclear goals or poor facilitation.
What the meeting research can—and cannot—tell you
Microsoft Research’s October 2021 study, Meeting Effectiveness and Inclusiveness in Remote Collaboration, used a pre-pandemic survey at one large technology company: 4,425 people were surveyed, with 3,290 included after filtering. It reported correlations between meeting effectiveness or inclusion and factors including agendas, communication before meetings, post-meeting summaries, meeting size, attendee location, and audio/video reliability. These associations do not prove that any single practice causes better outcomes, and the sample should not be treated as representative of all workplaces.
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