The Secrets of Productive Remote Meetings

February 27, 2020

TRANSFORMING
WORK

WITH
SOPHIE WADE

The Secrets of Productive Remote Meetings

The Secrets of Productive Remote Meetings

Beth Porter is the CEO and Co-Founder of Riff Analytics, a collaboration tool that uses AI, predictive analytics, and tailored feedback to bring more engagement in remote meetings. Beth explains why meetings feel like a waste of time and how their tool can optimize that experience so that everyone in the meeting can share their thoughts and feel heard. People in remote teams can now develop trust in each other with the use of Riff and with more trust comes more team collaborations!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[01:36] We are often not set up for success in our meetings.

[02:11] Behavioral science identifies turn-taking as critical for productive meetings

[03:44] The two parts of the Future of Work: more complex, non-routine work using different skills and more remote working.

[06:16] Relationships are becoming more important as we become more distant physically.

[07:23] A shift from incentivizing individual work to teamwork.

[09:08] The pros and cons of remote versus office working.

[09:59] Community building is important to build trust for people working from home.

[11:41] Beth’s early career as a math teacher emphasizing team-based work.

[15:44] What is computational social science?

[17:33] How is Riff Analytics using artificial intelligence?

[20:00] What the dynamics of conversations tell us.

[21:06] The impact of unspoken signals during meetings.

[22:01] Engagement is measured and feedback is given in real-time about who is dominating the conversation.

[22:39] The effect of interrupting during meetings.

[23:51] Feedback raises awareness in all meeting attendees.

[24:01] Visualization of each person’s meeting participation.

[25:12] Riff is a tool for promoting and practicing productive meeting habits.

[25:53] Post-meeting surveys capture each attendee’s experience.

[27:53] Original goal was to help online course learning where trust levels are low.

[30:21] Riff increases social presence feeling as though you are meeting in person.

[31:48] The relevance of trust and taking turns in conversation.

[34:12] Successful patterns of different meeting interactions.

[36:36] Riff nudges people to adopt better collaboration habits.

[41:26] Immediate Action Tip: Understand that time is a collective responsibility—respecting and optimizing other people’s time as well as your own.

QUOTES

“Research shows 71% of people find meetings unproductive and inefficient.”

“Everyone has something to share and it requires you to trust that if you give up your speaking time to others that something valuable is going to happen on the other end.”

“Optimizing time is a collective responsibility, not an individual responsibility alone. If you’re in a meeting with other people, it’s not just your time.”