Written by Liam Murphy | 28 April 2010

I remember the days when I actually got to fly to other countries for meetings, but now with budget cutbacks and new enabling technologies, many of them are largely unnecessary. There's no doubt that technology has changed the way that we work.

So now, most of the meetings I go to (or should I say "attend") are in front of my computer. In these meetings, I'm usually looking at someone else's desktop and trying not to cut someone off mid-sentence when I want to say something. Although I've found the technology that allows you to have virtual meetings with people all over the world invaluable, I sometimes find it equally frustrating.

I've also found that people make the same mistakes when holding these meetings; mistakes that can be easily avoided.

Mistake 1: Anyone heard of mute?

I've lost count of the number of times that I've been in a virtual meeting when I either hear a participant talking to someone else that isn't in the meeting, or keys tapping as an attendee is secretly answering emails, or sometimes just annoying feedback (especially if there are multiple participants sitting next to each other with their phones on speaker). Please, make sure you've muted your phone if you don't need to speak.

Mistake 2: Let's all talk at once

Without any visual cues, it can be difficult to know when someone has finished speaking. Try not to interrupt a speaker and when speaking, try to indicate that you have finished your 'monologue'. You can do this easily by asking if other people have understood what you've said. Just remember, when everyone tries to speak at the same time, noone is heard.

Mistake 3: Use a crappy line to save money

I was recently on a training session done through WebEx, where the trainer decided that they needed to use Skype to call in. Skype usually has great call quality but in this case, I think he was running it on his overloaded PC making it virtually impossible to hear him. The end result was that we spent over 20 minutes waiting for him to hang up and call in again with the same result. That was just frustrating for everyone involved.

Mistake 4: Let's see everything on your desktop

Sharing your desktop is probably the easiest way to let everyone see whatever you're presenting. However, you must remember that everything that you've left open is also visible. Many times I've seen the presenter's email inbox with sensitive emails open for all to see.

Mistake 5: Am I still logged in?

I must admit, this is something that I've done myself after a presentation is over. I've forgotten that I'm still sharing my desktop and start doing something else. The worst case was when I started messaging someone about the meeting and participants saw what I was saying. Luckily, I wasn't saying anything too bad. Once it's over, remember to end the meeting or at least stop sharing your desktop!