Ah! Meetings.
There’s usually some animosity towards meetings. I can’t remember how many times we’ve heard or read somebody saying “this meeting could’ve been a mail.” And that’s true for many non-remote teams. But we’re a completely distributed team — we don’t have the luxury of seeing each other every day and being able to discuss small things face-to-face — that’s why we have remote meetings.
Remote video meetings are super important at KISSPatent. They allow us to see our faces and our expressions. Most of us already understand the body language others use, like when Christian, our head of Sales, closes his eyes (he’s actually paying more attention).
Virtual Meetings Help Make Remote Working Easier and Connect The Team
That’s what our meetings are for! It makes things easier to explain and understand. We can keep everybody updated about what we’re working on, make quicker decisions, and see Peter’s dog from time to time (hi Bubi!) or my niece practicing her English.
We have 3 mandatory meetings every week:
KISSPatent Team Meeting: everybody participates, including our CEO. We talk about topics that everybody’s involved in, and we make general announcements
Lead BBQ: the Marketing and Sales meeting that has recently been the call where everybody eats (breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner) while we discuss work
Bilderberg sales updates and Bilderberg partnership updates: both meetings are attended by the sales and partnerships team but we split it into two because we have too much to cover. These are the meetings where we can listen to tango from the cafe Jessica, our head of Partnerships, is at or where Peter, our COO, interrupts everybody (he asked me to add that he doesn’t mind being interrupted)
Those meetings aside, each team has their own get-togethers… where we talk about more specific topics that nobody else cares about or how we’re going to solve something specific (like, should this be a Google sheet or a Trello board?). We also have 1:1 meetings whenever it’s needed. Although we try to solve things through Slack, sometimes it’s easier to do so through a quick call.
As a bonus, we use the Donut app on Slack to meet randomly with anybody in the team. Someone from the team, we’re not naming names Xavier (head of Trademarks), dubbed this as forced friendship once. And it is… Peter is still devastated by this tag!
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All of this sounds serious and very structured, and it is… to a certain point. It has to be, otherwise, it’s super easy to be out of the loop with what everybody is doing. Here’s how we have successful remote meetings at KISSPatent.
1. We have a fixed meeting time
We have people in TelAviv, Chicago, Dublin, Eindhoven, Valencia, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Chiang Mai (sorry if I forgot anyone!) so meeting at a time that’s convenient for everyone in the team is kinda difficult. That’s why we don’t do it.
KISSPatent runs fixed meeting times to accommodate for all timezones
Particularly in this topic, the majority wins. Since most of our team is in Europe, though we try to respect those who are in different time zones, they are the ones that, sadly, have to make more sacrifices. They have to wake up earlier or work longer hours.
But this is just our team, we know teams that have more people in South East Asia, for example, and they give priority to them.
2. We are consistent
Consistency creates structure. All of us in the team have different schedules, activities during the day, hobbies, and laundry times but we know that we have to be on the weekly meetings. They’re held at the same time every time so we plan accordingly. Unless something extraordinary happens, like that time I had to fly back to Mexico, we know we have to be there. Being consistent with the meetings also helps us stay accountable.
3. We use the right tools
This is related to consistency but we added it as a different point because it’s really important. We use Zoom for all of our mandatory calls. Everyone has the link to each meeting and since we’re using the same tool every time, there aren’t installation problems or similar hiccups. We just click the link at the right time and we’re on the call. Easy-peasy!
For team calls, each team decides which tool to use. For example, the marketing team always uses Skype for this (and we just discovered Skype has a new blur background option!). D’vorah, our CEO, sometimes even uses Slack to make calls, but that’s just on 1:1 meetings. We’re flexible with 1:1 calls.
4. We use video
We respect when someone doesn’t want to show their faces during a call (maybe they’re having a bad hair day), but as we said before, seeing everybody’s faces adds value to the meetings and we can also see the child-art hanging behind Carlos’, our CMO, wall.
Meghan, Carlos, D’vorah and I during a virtual meeting… we didn’t fake-smile for this screenshot!
Since all of us are in different places, sometimes our internet isn’t the best, so using video might make things worse, but as Jessica says, “if you're going to work from a cafe, connect to the WiFi to check the internet BEFORE you sit down and buy a coffee.”
So there’s that.
5. We have an agenda
Ok, sometimes we don’t have it AND IT SHOWS! Whenever we don’t, it’s just everybody talking randomly about their lives. This is not bad and we love it, but at some point, we do get down to business.
So, before every call, whoever leads it writes the agenda on our #agenda channel on Slack. If someone wants to speak about something in particular, they are free to add it to the agenda. We make sure everybody’s heard and we try to cover all the points during the meeting… also, it helps us remember why we’re meeting in the first place!
Communication is key! Also, everybody eats pizza!
6. We’re not tracking time
We don’t care about how much time is spent on our team calls because it’s the only chance we get to talk and see each other in the week. Sometimes it takes half an hour, other times an hour and a half… but nobody’s counting!
On 1:1 calls we are more disciplined. For example, when Peter meets with Carlos, Christian, or Jess, they’re super focused and, quoting Peter, “in terms of discipline it’s more like a SWAT training.”
7. Everybody has equal input
We’re a small team and we use that to our advantage. Each of us is talented in their own way and everybody brings their own point of view to the table. Whenever we discuss something, everybody can comment (and we’re encouraged to do so!). For example, it doesn’t matter if Rachel, our Strategic Relations & Outreach Manager, isn’t part of the marketing team, she always has great insights!
8. We’re informal (but professional!)
No call is complete without Meghan, our Marketing Manager, saying “whoop, whoop” in the beginning and no call is complete without laughing about something that happened to someone during the day. We’re allowed to make jokes, to laugh, and to remark how terrible the weather is in the Netherlands. These are kind of our “water cooler” conversations and they usually happen at the beginning of the calls, when everybody’s logging in and saying hi.
We love these moments because we get to know each other better!
“Water-cooler” meetings connect us as a virtual team.
We use our remote meetings to learn about what other teams are doing because, even though we’re not directly working on some things, we’re directly affected by what everybody’s doing… and we’re all for transparency! Our meetings are where we create bonds (we make them stronger by sending gifs on Slack) and where our team culture is built.
We like our meetings because they’re not a waste of time and we actually solve many things during these. So, whenever we hear that a meeting could’ve been a mail, we think… well, this mail can easily be a meeting to solve things faster!
Bye for now, we have a meeting to attend!
Contact us today or check out more information on how we do remote work.
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