The ultimate guide to asynchronous
Before the transition to working remotely I was employed in the remote team of an online bank. We were always experimenting with different types of mixed remote meetings and generally went easily.
But, it's never an an easy task to maximize the efficiency of your meetings or to ensure that you have a good meeting communications via remote, or decide on what type of remote meetings to host at all.
This article (based on some research and personal experience) will help you understand the various kinds of remote meetings, how to run them effectively along with some helpful tips and tricks, choosing the right devices for the job as well as the common rules for virtual meeting conduct.
Different types of remote meeting
It's possible that you didn't give this a lot of thought however, there's actually numerous types of remote meetings (and chances are you're already somewhat familiar with the concept). As technology advances within this field it has become possible to connect with remote employees and other team members using either of the following primary methods or using a mix of both!
Teleconferencing
From all kinds of remote meetings we'll talk about in this article, teleconferencing possibly the oldest and most tested technique. Being audio-only phone calls, the technology for it is much older and simpler than other methods on this list.
The meeting host will be 'on the line' at an exact time for the meeting at which point the other members of the team will dial in' using a phone number. Of course, this type of meeting is best suited for a small group of people -- not being able to see one another could cause confusion when multiple participants are talking at the same time.
Video conferencing
From the time of the outbreak of a specific pandemic around 2020 Video conferencing has now become a common staple in many of our work lives thanks to the likes of Zoom meetings and Microsoft Teams.
Video-based meetings (conferences) have a similar model to teleconferencing in the sense that hosts host a real-time meeting where participants dial in using the link or a phone number. What makes them different in this case is that participants can communicate with each other, and also use software that makes the video calls more efficient and more engaging.
Web conferencing
Thirdly, the most popular type of virtual meeting is web-based conferencing. It's easy to mix this one up with videoconferencing, but there is a difference -web conferences are usually utilized for virtual meetings (like all-hands meetings) or online training or for project collaboration, where there is the benefit of a practical aspect in it.
Naturally, this can be a great option for large-scale projects or business-wide meetings and may be organized in the same way to a video conference but it may also be arranged with ticketed attendance and pre-registration.
In order to add another dimension to different meeting types Additionally, you have the option to'sync meeting', or async.
What is an Asynchronous Meeting?
Asynch meetings are a type of communications that don't occur in real-time, and doesn't usually require an immediate response.
Synchronous communication vs asynchronous communication
In the digital banking job I previously mentioned the team worked extremely difficult to ensure that the remote employees felt welcome as well as part of the decision-making process, update of status, check-ins as well as team building activities. In order to achieve this, they required Asynchronous and Synchronous meetings, but each has advantages and disadvantages.
| The benefits of meetings that are synchronous | Benefits of asynchronous meetings |
|---|---|
| Rapid feedback on new ideas | Accommodating to all schedules |
| Real-time collaboration | Could be more inclusive |
| Very similar to in-person meetings | Time savings |
Benefits of synchronous meetings:
- The most closely matches in-person gatherings.
- immediate feedback regarding action things or discussion points.
- The ability to communicate in real time can help you exchange ideas more quickly.
The downside:
- A lot of times, there can be people who tend to be quiet or introverted, but struggle to participate.
- On the other hand in the event that everyone has something interesting to talk about, the gathering will quickly be a chaos of individuals speaking about each other.
- The risk is that you will experience technological delays or network faults when you need it the most.
Asynchronous Meetings: Benefits:
- If there's no pressure to make a statement immediately, everyone has a chance to allow the voice of their choice to be heard.
- Not having to line up the right times to meet that were distributed globally or with night employees of shift teams (something my former workplace profited greatly from).
What's not so great:
- Based on Buffer's 2020 state of Remote Work report the survey found that 20% of participants stated that loneliness was their most significant problem (which I also can attest to) Sync meetings provide the chance for you to "see" the other members of your group, therefore moving to asynchronous communication can contribute to feelings of isolation.
- If an immediate response isn't needed, sometimes employees may not respond or follow up in the first place.
- A common issue with remote work, according to Statista that also applies for async-based meetings (since they can be in and out throughout the day) is not being able unplug.
From a broader perspective, when considering the pros and cons, it's a matter of picking the appropriate method for your event rather than going with either extreme. But, I'll focus a little more on async-based meetings from here on out (since they're not as well recognized).
How do you run a successful Asynchronous Meeting
So now you know what kinds of remote meetings are and the different ways to go about the process, but how can conduct an actual asynchronous meeting? This can be somewhat of a headache for those who are used to having real-time meetings.
Because I don't have personally-experienced experience in managing meetings (only taking part in meetings) I asked handful of experts, including a the former Project Manager, who later became freelance writer Laura Bosco, what they thought made for efficient and productive asynchronous meetings, here's the things she had to say:
"--the the context and structure of the async message was a major factor in my experience and still are when I work with clients.
Context: Some types of feedback, announcements, or even questions can be more sensitive or susceptible to being misinterpreted. For those, video is superior to text since someone else can hear your tone and look at your face. This reduces the chance of miscommunication and relationship damage.
Additionally, formatting text. Bold, headers, bullets or italics when you are making important requests...these do not devalue the receiver. They aid them in digesting your messages ."
Laura isn't the only person who believes that providing context is the most effective way to make use of async communications. Michael Steele, CEO of Flywheel Digital (a remote first technical marketing firm) who is an avid user of Notion, Google Docs, and Slack for their tech stack. He also said:
"A major factor in achieving success when it comes to synchronous communications, which includes both clients and staff, is providing context. All parties involved should understand the purpose of communication as well as the latest events and changes that are noteworthy, and also have the ability to access important documents like strategies such as marketing personas, strategies, and performance reports.
With no context for synchronous communications, miscommunications can occur and time is spent repairing mistakes and making revisions that could have easily been made without the proper details available from the beginning."
In terms of the actual aspect of running the meetings, creator of ScrapingBee (a 100 100% remote-based company) Kevin Sahin says that in addition to having short, real-time meetings using memos created using Notion, they also use Slack:
"Slack is used asynchronously, the status of Slack is used to know if a co-worker can be reached for a phone call or not. When we write a message within Slack and we do not expect an answer immediately, that's the point. The general principle is to choose the most effective tool for the job."
For an effective meeting asynchronously, you need to ensure that you're using the tools that are properly designed, and provide context as well as the issues you're addressing will be done as to be simple and fast to manage.
9 ways to plan and execute the perfect remote conference
No matter if your remote conference is synchronous or not but there are some general guidelines to ensure that they run smoothly. These tips are derived from existing research and others are derived from personal experience. The tips will be presented in a before the meeting, after, and during arrangement for people who favor real-time. However, the content of these tips is applicable to async-based meetings.
Prior to the gathering:
- Make sure only the most important people can be invited. If you overcrowd an online meeting, whether that's an online video conference or Slack channel, the information could rapidly be lost, and fewer individuals will be able take part.
- Create a clear agenda. You can set agendas either for real-time or async meetings in the program of your choice When I worked at the bank, we developed Notion templates that had fill-in sections like issues we're facing and actions points.
- Set meeting standards. Laura also mentioned one interesting method she prefers to employ that is to write and then share "how to work alongside me" documentation ( like this one) in order to set standards and expectations for meetings as well as other forms of communication.
In the course of the conference:
- Start and finish within the timeframe. This point is particularly true of real-time remote meetings. There's nothing much worse than turning up for a meeting later or extending the time. People's time is precious. It's also true for meetings that are scheduled in async. If you don't respond quickly enough in a timely time, information may go unnoticed or dates could get lost.
- Keep it short. Similar to the above point, there's not much use in an hour-long meeting in real-time where you're able to achieve the goals you need to make using async communications or smaller meetings. As for async, avoid writing huge texts or lengthy interspersed pauses on recorded videos.
- Be sure that everyone is heard or acknowledged. As I mentioned in the past, not all people have the personality type to speak up during real-time conversations, async comms gives those people the opportunity to speak up. But, if you're a manager or meeting host It's important to be vigilant about participants' participation.
Following the session:
- Get feedback from attendees. If you're experimenting using different kinds of meetings, it's essential to gather feedback from your participants to find what's effective in terms of the style of communication and method. Some software will work better in different situations.
- Provide a means of communication for follow-ups. Generally speaking, it's best to create a way to communicate or a virtual place where attendees can share ad-hoc points about the conference or provide updates regarding action items without cluttering up the actual meetings.
If you're thinking in this moment, "those tips are all nice and right But what's the deal with software?", this next section has got you covered.
Software to facilitate remote meetings
One important aspect to consider when hosting remote meetings of every sort is to make sure that you have the right tech for the meeting to begin with. For synchronous meetings, naturally, well-known video conferencing services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams/Skype, and Google Meet do the trick quite well. However, it's slightly different with async meetings.
A few of the most well-known Asynchronous Meeting Software (which also happen to be mostly tools for managing projects), and some have already been mentioned, are:
Choosing the right tool for your virtual conference
A majority of the tools for collaboration I've mentioned above are purely written in text or used to communicate, while other tools can mix of image, text or video. Also, as Laura mentioned in the past, context and formatting are key.
For simple project updates
If you're just looking for a way to get your team members up to current on what the project's status is, tools like Trello, Asana, and Notion are excellent for this. In my case, for instance I (and my previous office) use Notion boards to provide a quick overview of the status of projects and also to read comments.
The same 'board' style organization in each of the applications previously mentioned.
For continuous updates
If your team or project requires a simple way to reach but not have daily meetings in person Most of the tools discussed are acceptable, Basecamp in particular is great, but Slack takes the cake on this particular aspect.
My old job had every team was given its own Slack channel to have basically asynchronous stand-ups, while there were also company-wide channels for more general info. Naturally, I do not have access to this particular Slack workspace anymore, but I do have some Slack workspaces that I use in a similar way:
for more complicated or sensitive information
As Laura mentioned, some kinds of information need a personal touch. There is no need to keep data that is misunderstood or is lost in the shuffle of posts and projects. To avoid this, it is best to use video, and will be able to count on us.
Additionally as an added bonus, you can track who has viewed your video and collaborate on the comment section.
It's often difficult to determine what software or process to use since every team has its own unique approach, so it's worth experimenting early on and being prepared to move on if one doesn't work for you.
The remote playbook: etiquette for meetings that take place online
The last topic we're going discuss in this article is meeting etiquette. Certain aspects may be familiar to those who have been through the topics we've covered previously, but it's worth summarizing precisely what typical meetings conducted remotely look like.
For synchronous meetings, we've all had plenty of Zoom calls to know the following general rules (and sometimes, we've erred in breaking them):
- Make sure you're not talking on mute while you're speaking.
- Make sure you are in a calm area to allow other guests to focus on your (not your washing machine playing in the background).
- Try out the features that you wish to use before you start to avoid wasting time figuring it out during the session.
But, things are slightly different when it comes to asynchronous meetings, and the manner of conduct can differ based on the mode of communication or channel of the communication.
For channels that use text (e.g. Notion, Slack etc.)
- Make sure you're posting relevant information on the appropriate channel/thread/page (or when you're making reference to an item of interest, include a link to said thread/page).
- Don't treat it like emails. That's how I define acknowledging a message or a project instead of putting messages in the inbox (in Slack, it is possible to sign a message by using an emoticon! ).
- Remember that everyone has personal lives. When using asynchronous communication is easy to forget that there are people working at the same time as you. Find out if anyone is available in advance of sending them a push notification.
Asynchronous video calls
- Check that your camera and microphones are of high enough quality for people to comprehend what you're speaking about.
- Have a clear takeaway you want to impart to the world -- no one would like to watch a video and not learn anything new.
Of course, these are just some general etiquette guidelines. You may be in a position to have your specific rules of communication to each other, and which technology to use. This is why it is possible to keep these in mind while learning how to use them or creating them.
Get off to a good start with remote meeting
Similar to many relationships Effective communication is essential ingredient to a productive day-to-day operation However, it doesn't necessarily have to occur in the moment.
Asynchronous remote meetings can aid in better conversations, engage all of your team members and create a sense that is open and transparent (since async comms are naturally documented). If you're thinking about adopting a more asynchronous approach, consider experimenting with different options to discover what works for you.