I love working from home, I love my creature comforts, the flexibility and ya’know I still have to do my other “parenting/housewife” job at the same time, but just sometimes your house isn’t the most professional way to entertain or engage with prospective or even established customers or clients. Here are 3 ways to hold meetings when you work from home including the pros and cons for each.
3 Ways To Hold Meetings When You Work From Home:
Online Meetings: During lockdown, we spent all our time online conducting all the face-to-face business we no longer could, networking, meetings, social events you name it you could Zoom it! And whilst I truly believe face-to-face is always best there is still a place for online meetings.
Pros of meeting online:
- Ease Of Use: Online platforms are so easy to use and you can meet with multiple people from various locations all at the same time.
- Environmental Factor: No need to use cars or public transport.
- Time: There’s no need to factor in additional time to get to meetings, park etc.
- At Ease: Conducting meetings from your own home can help with nerves, put you at ease and generally help feel confident and comfortable.
Cons of meeting online:
- Body Language: It can be really hard to read subtle body language cues over virtaully. Conversation can also be a bit more stagnant as each person waits for the other, it can be harder to engage naturally.
- Technology Issues: You may be plagued with technical issues, sound problems, visual problems, you may have turned yourself into a potato, WiFi problems causing buffering etc.
Office Meeting Pods: Many hot desking venues will have meeting spaces available, that you can rent for one-off or regular meetings. Meeting Pods provide an enclosed sound-controlled, private meeting space by isolating the occupants from the external office environment.
Pros of using office meeting pods:
- Cost-Effective: Many are designed to be mobile and therefore can be set up anywhere within the open office, to create a quiet area.
- Mini Offices: With integrated lighting, power and data points they feel like and work like a regular office room, providing you with the professionalism for meetings but without the long term commitment.
Cons of using office meeting pods:
- Distractions: Office meeting pods are usually constructed in an open plan situation, meaning the nosey parker side of you might be distracted by the goings on around you! Always best to check if the windows are frosted or how privacy is determined.
- Travel: Using a hot desking venue you need to be aware of travel time, parking and any additional time and resources this will prevail for both you and your client.
Use Hotel Facilities: Depending on how many clients you are meeting at once a hotel coffee shop or conference room could be the perfect match.
Pros of using a hotel:
- You Can Stay Put: If you are organised you can line up your meetings one after the other to enable you to maximise you’re out of the office time, reduce commuting.
- Everything You Need: Table, chairs, coffee, WiFi, parking, tick tick tick. Everything is available and other than refreshments not at an additional cost.
- Big Group Options: However if you did need to meet a large group of clients/customers all at once or were holding training sessions hotel conference facilities are normally top notch.
Cons of using a hotel:
- Privacy: Open situations like this can cause privacy issues and might not suit all client based meetings.
- Travel: Again using outside facilities will always incur travel time and resources.
Where do you meet, entertain or engage with prospective or even established customers or clients in the most professional way? Do leave you suggestions in the comments.
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