The ultimate guide to asynchronous

Before the transition to remote work, I used to work in the remote team of an online bank. We were always experimenting with different types of remote meeting that were mixed, and generally went easily.

It's however not an an easy task to maximize productivity or hold effective communications in remote meetings or even decide what type of remote meeting to have at all.

This document (based upon some of the research conducted and personal experiences) will help you understand the different types of remote meetings and the best ways you can effectively run them, along with some helpful tips and tricks selecting the best equipment for your needs, and also the most common etiquette for virtual meetings.

Different types of remote meeting

You might not have given the idea much thought prior to now however, there's actually various types of remote meeting types (and you're probably already a little familiar with them). Thanks to the advancement of technology in this field, we've been able to communicate with remote workers as well as other members of the team through one of the main methods or even using a mix of both!

Teleconferencing

Of all the types of remote meeting we'll speak about, teleconferencing is probably the most tried-and-tested old-school method. Being audio-only phone calls, the technology for it is much older and simpler than those on the list.

It is basically that the hosting host will be on the phone's line at an exact time for the meeting after which other team members will 'dial into' the meeting using a specific phone number. This kind of meeting is best suited for a small group of attendees. However, not being able to communicate with the other members could be confusing if multiple people talk simultaneously.

Video conferencing

Since the onset of a particular pandemic that was to hit the world in 2020 video conferencing has been an integral part of our work lives thanks to programs like Zoom meetings, as well as Microsoft Teams.

Video-based meetings (conferences) are similar in pattern to teleconferencing, in that a host organizes an actual-time conference where attendees 'dial in' using the link or a phone number. The key difference, of course, is the ability to be able to see one another and utilize software to make video calls more efficient and enjoyable.

Web conferencing

The third and final most frequent type of virtual meetings is web-based conferencing. It's simple to mix this one up with video conferencing, however there's a distinctionWeb conferences are typically utilized for virtual meetings (like all-hands meetings) or online training or for project collaboration, where the meeting has an element of practicality to it.

Naturally, this option is great for larger-scale projects or business-wide meetings and could be setup in a similar method to video conferences but it may also be arranged with ticketed attendance and pre-registration.

In order to add another dimension to the various types of meetings There is the possibility of scheduling'sync meeting', or async.

What is an asynchronous meeting?

Asynch meetings are a type of communication that doesn't happen in real time and does not typically require immediate responses.

Synchronous communication vs asynchronous communication

At that digital bank job I previously mentioned the team worked extremely at making sure that remote employees felt welcome as well as part of the decision-making process and checking-ins, status updates and team building events. To do that, we needed to use simultaneous and asynchronous meetings. However, each of them has its pros and cons.

 Advantages of synchronous meeting:

• The most closely matches in-person gatherings.
• Immediate feedback on action items or discussion points.
• Communication in real-time can allow you to share ideas more spontaneously.

 What's not so great:

• Most of the time, there can be people who tend to be quiet or introverted, but struggle to engage.
• On the other hand, if everybody has something to say, the meeting could quickly turn into a raunchy chaos of individuals speaking about each other.
• There's a risk of technological delay or network issues at times when you require it most.

 Asynchronous Meetings: Benefits:

• If there's no pressure to speak immediately, almost everybody has the chance to have the voice of their choice to be heard.
• Being able to schedule the right times to meet that were distributed globally or with night group members on shifts (something my previous workplace benefited greatly from).

 What's not great about HTML0:

• According to Buffer's state of Remote Work report 20 percent of those who participated claimed that loneliness was their main issue (which I also can attest to) Meetings that sync are the chance for you to "see" others, and so switching to asynchronous comm can add to the feeling of loneliness.
• If an immediate response is not required, occasionally team members might forget to respond or follow up in the first place.
• A common issue with remote work, according to Statista, which also applies to meetings that are async (since they can be moving back and forth during working hours) is the inability to 'unplug'.

From a broader perspective, when considering the pros and cons, it's definitely a case of picking the appropriate format for the occasion rather than going with either extreme. But, I'll be focusing more specifically on the meetings that are async starting from now (since they're not as well acknowledged).

How to run a productive online meeting

You're aware of the sorts of remote meetings there are and the different options for how to run them, but how do conduct an actual asynchronous meeting? It's a bit of a head-scratcher when you're experienced with having meetings in real time.

As I have no personal experience conducting meetings (only taking part in meetings) I reached out to a few experts, including former Project Manager turned freelance writer, Laura Bosco, what they thought made for effective and product Asynchronous meetings. Here's the things she had to say:

 "--the nature and context of the async communication was a major factor for me -- and still are for me when working with clients.

Context: Certain types of feedback, announcements, or questions are more sensitive or easily misinterpreted. In these cases, video is superior to text since people can listen to the tone of your voice as well as see your face. This minimizes misconceptions and relational harm.

Format: Big fan of BLUF (bottom-line-up-front) in most written comms. It's also more efficient. If you can make your question clear and concise, you're more likely to get what you're looking for. For another, it's a way to demonstrate empathy to the individual. This shows appreciation for their time and daily influx of emails.

 Also, text formatting. Bold, headers, bullets or italics when you are making important requests...these aren't meant to degrade the reader. They assist them to digest your communication ."

Laura isn't the only one to say providing context as an effective method to use async communication. Michael Steele, CEO of Flywheel Digital (a remote first technological marketing company), who is a big fan of using Notion, Google Docs, and Slack as their technology stack. He also said:

 "A major factor in achieving success when it comes to synchronous communications, which includes staff and customers is to provide the context. All parties involved should understand the purpose of communication, recent events or changes worth noting, and easy access to foundational documents like strategies, marketing personas, and performance reports.

 Without context in asynchronous communication, miscommunications are common and the time spent fixing mistakes or making changes that could have been easily prevented with the correct information at hand from the very beginning."

Regarding the practical side of running the meetings, the founder of ScrapingBee (a 100% remote company) Kevin Sahin says that besides having short real-time meetings with memos prepared in Notion and Slack, they also utilize Slack:

"Slack can be used as asynchronously as the status of Slack is used to know if a co-worker is available for a call or not. If we post an email in Slack, we don't expect an answer immediately, that's what the purpose of it. The general principle is to use the best tool for the job."

In essence, to run an effective asynchronous meeting, you need to be sure that the software you're using properly, giving context, and the points you're covering are presented as to be simple and fast to manage.

9 suggestions to plan and execute the perfect remote meeting

If your meeting via remote is either synchronous or non-synchronous but there are some general guidelines to help them run more smoothly. Some of these tips come from the research that is already in place, but others come out of experience. They will be discussed in a before, during, and after arrangement for people who favor real-time, but the context of the tips still applies for async meetings.

 Prior to the session:

1. Make sure only the most important people are invited. If you overcrowd a virtual meeting regardless of whether it's a video conference or a Slack channel, the information could rapidly be lost, and fewer people will be able to take part.
   
2. Create a clear schedule. You can set agendas for either real-time or async-based meetings using the software of your choice as I did when working in a banking sector, we created Notion templates with fill-in sections that reflected the problems we were facing as well as actions points.
   
3. Create meeting guidelines. Laura also mentioned an interesting strategy she likes to implement in which she creates and share "how to collaborate with me" document ( like this one) for helping set standards and expectations for meetings, as well as for other communications.

 In the course of the meeting:

1. End and start on time. This point is particularly true of real-time remote meetings, there's not much worse than turning up at a meeting early or running out of time. The time of the attendees is valuable. It's also true for meetings that are scheduled in async. If you do not respond in a reasonably timely way, your information could go unnoticed or deadlines might get not met.
   
2. 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 complete all the tasks that you wish to with async messaging or smaller meetings. When it comes to the async method, try to avoid writing massive pages of text, or making long gaps in videos recorded.
   
3. Be sure that everyone is heard or acknowledged. As I mentioned previously, not everyone is the personality type that allows them to express their opinion in live conversations, async comms allows those who aren't to express themselves. But, if you're a manager or meeting host, it's still important to keep an eye on member participation.

 Following the session:

1. Gather feedback from participants. If you're experimenting with different types of meetings, it's essential to collect feedback from participants to find what's functioning with regards to the type of communication and channel. Different software may work better in different situations.
   
2. Offer a channel of communication for follow-ups. Generally speaking, it's best to have some kind of channel of communication or virtual space where participants can provide ad-hoc points about the meeting or updates regarding action items without cluttering up the actual meetings.
   

If you're thinking in this moment, "those tips are all well and good, but what about applications?", this next section has got you covered.

Software to facilitate remote meetings

Naturally, one of the most important considerations when having remote meetings of any kind is making sure you're equipped with the appropriate technology for the meeting to begin with. For synchronous meetings, naturally popular video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams/Skype, and Google Meet do the trick quite well. However, it's a bit different for synchronous meetings.

The most popular Asynchronous Meeting Software (which can also be generally project management tools) as well as some that were previously mentioned include:

•   Slack
•   Trello
•   Google Docs
•   Asana
•   Notion
•   Basecamp
• If you're part of a group of developers, Gitlab or Github are great options.

Choosing the right tool for your virtual meeting

Most of the collaboration tools I've mentioned above are purely text-based or for messaging and others can be a mix of image, text or video. As Laura said previously, context and design are key.

 For simple project updates

If you're just looking for ways to bring people up the speed of what your project's status is, tools like Trello, Asana, and Notion are great for this. As an example, I (and my former work colleagues) use Notion  boards to provide a quick overview of the status of projects and also to see comments:

It is possible to create a similar 'board' style organization in each of the applications previously mentioned.

 For continuous updates

If your team or project must be simple to connect with, but does not require regular meetings that are held in-person, most of the tools listed are good, Basecamp in particular is great, but Slack is the best in this issue.

In my previous workplace, every team was given its own Slack channel to hold stand-ups that were asynchronous as well as company-wide channels for more general discussions. However, I don't have access to this particular Slack workspace, however I do have some Slack workspaces I use similarly:

 For more complex or sensitive information

Just as Laura mentioned, some kinds of information require a greater human interaction. It isn't a good idea to provide information that either gets misunderstood or lost among all the posts and projects. For that, you'll want to utilize video. And has your back.

In addition it is possible to track who has viewed the video, and also participate on the comment section.

It's not always easy to decide what software or process to choose since every team is different, therefore you should start by experimenting and being prepared to move on if one isn't working out for you.

The playbook for remote meetings: Etiquette to conduct virtual meetings

The final topic discuss in this article is etiquette for meetings. A few of the points will be familiar considering our previous discussions However, it's worthwhile to outline the most common meetings conducted remotely look like.

We've been on a lot of Zoom calls to know the following general rules (and often, they're broken):

• You should ensure that 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 that is running).
• Test the features you want to use before you start to make sure you do not waste time figuring it out in the course of your discussion.

But, things are slightly different when it comes to meeting that are synchronous, and etiquette can vary depending on the method or channel of the communication.

For text-based channels (e.g. Notion, Slack etc.)

• Keep on-topic information in the appropriate channel/thread/page (or in the event that you're discussing anything of importance, post a link to said thread/page).
• Do not treat it as email. This means that you should acknowledge the message or project instead of putting the message within your inbox (in Slack, it is possible to mark a message with an emoji! ).
• Take note that other people also have private lives. When using asynchronous communication, it's easy to forget there are people working at the same time when you. Find out if anyone is available in advance of sending them a push notification.

 Asynchronous video calls

• Be sure that the camera and microphone are good enough quality for people to understand what you're talking about.
• You should have a specific takeaway that you wish to share with other people -- nobody wants to sit through a video and not learn any new information.

Of course, these are only general etiquette guidelines. Your business might have its own guidelines for communication to each other, and which tools to utilize. If so, you can bear these in mind while learning the basics or setting these rules.

Start off with a great start by having remote meeting

As with many relationships Effective communication is key to successful day-to-day business However, it doesn't necessarily need to be the moment.

Remote meetings that are synchronous can assist you in having better conversations, engage the team in a greater number and create a sense of transparency (since async comms are naturally recorded). If you're thinking about using a more asynchronous method try experimenting with various methods to determine what works for you.