Orchestrating Virtual Meetings Seamlessly using 11P Mnemonic

Effective soft skills and behavioral skills are the two essentials while having any business virtual conferences, coaching, meetings, facilitation, moderation and training. Soft skills is a reflection of your intrapersonal and interpersonal attitude, is the way your present and interact; While behavioral skills is the way you behave that includes planning, organizing and managing the tasks, time and things. 11P is simple mnemonic that will help to recall some of the important things to keep in mind while taking virtual meetings.

 

• Prepare
• Place
• Pen
• Paper
• Present
• Pardon
• Please...
• Publish inner voice
• Loud Thinking
• Loud Listening
• Loud Feeling
• Pleasant
• Pause
• Put a pleasing end

Plan and Prepare your Call 

With patience, sketch your call before picking up the telephone receiver:
1. Have I noted down all the points that needs to be spoken?
2. Do I have all the supporting details of the call?

Pen that Writes

Put down your conversation through words, diagrams, flowcharts and sketches. The more innovative you are the better you this instrument. Pen!

Paper; Trivial but Vital

You would save anywhere between 15-50 seconds when you keep a paper or a notepad handy before the call. It serves not only as a reference but makes you recall even after the call end so that you can reflect on the conversation.

Choosing Right Place 

If you are taking a professional business call, it is always appropriate to choose a silent meeting room than a crowded noisy cubicle. Remember, choosing a right place, during a telephonic conversation, not only enhances the quality of the call but also creates an atmosphere of trust for the receiver.
In fact, having a pen and a paper handy, and choosing the right place before making a call is one to the basics of telephone interview etiquette for all job seekers.

What to Present During the Call? 

Ideally, every phone call should have an effective introduction that start with
--A good greeting, good morning, good afternoon, thanks for calling etc..,
--A clear introduction of name, company.
--A chronological order of education and experience.
In addition, you can build rapport by casually talking about your hobbies and interests but with caution.

Pardon (Excuse)

Any unavoidable situations and circumstances can be mentioned as an, "Excuse" to the audience before starting the presentation. If you're not feeling well, having throat problems such as cough or running nose or your surrounding is noisy which is unavoidable can be mentioned before getting into the presentation. It also includes any potential technical issues or troubleshooting any connectivity problems.

Please... (Instructions)

By addressing these instructions before starting the presentation, you can help ensure that the meeting runs smoothly and that participants are engaged and prepared for what's to come.

Silence Devices: Request participants to silence their phones and other electronic devices to minimize distractions.

Presentation Guidelines: Provide any specific guidelines or expectations for participant behavior during the presentation (e.g., questions at the end, interactive participation, etc.).

Q&A Protocol: Establish a protocol for questions and answers, such as whether to address questions during the presentation or save them for the end.

Engagement: Encourage active participation from attendees, whether through questions, comments, or interactive activities.

Etiquette: Remind participants of meeting etiquette, such as avoiding interrupting others, raising hands to speak, and being respectful of differing opinions.

Accessibility: Confirm that all necessary accessibility accommodations are in place for participants who may require them.

Publish Inner Voice 

during virtual meeting, if the video is switch off, people will not be able to see you and your facial expressions, how and what you feel and your thoughts. So, Loud thinking, loud listening and loud feeling will help the audience what is happening inside you:

Loud Thinking  

These expressions convey the idea that the person is openly sharing their thought process or engaging in a verbal exploration of ideas. Expressions like:

"It might sound like I'm talking to myself, but I'm just loud-thinking."

"Sorry, I tend to loud-think when I'm trying to figure things out."

"Let me do some loud thinking here..."

"I'll just loud-think through this problem."

"Bear with me while I loud-think my way through this."

"I'm going to loud-think aloud for a moment."

Loud Listening

"Loud listening" is a concept that suggests active and engaged listening, where the listener provides audible feedback or demonstrates their attentiveness through verbal or non-verbal cues. Here are some expressions related to "loud listening":

"I'm giving you my full attention, loud listening and all."

"You'll hear my loud listening as I nod along."

"I'll be loud listening, so feel free to continue."

"Let me show you my loud listening with some affirming 'mm-hmms.'"

"Don't worry, my loud listening means I'm tracking every word you say."

These expressions convey the idea that the listener is actively involved in the conversation.

Loud Feeling

These expressions convey the idea of emotions being outwardly expressed or easily observed by others. 

"After hearing this conversation, I feel little upset"

"I feel relieved when I heard Satish talk about customer feedback"

"I feel confused after reading the status report"

Being Pleasant Emotions

One basic human value is being courteous. You can bring courteousness through your Tone of voice,  or by choosing polite and kind words and phrases such as please, thank you, you're welcome, I can understand that, you are kind(genuine) and so on.

Taking Pauses is Yet Another Phone Etiquette

Non-verbal communication is as important as oral communication. Pauses during a telephone conversations are taken for two reasons; One, pauses shows respect and consideration of the receivers' points and encourages the receiver to talk. Two, pauses helps you to recall information and respond appropriately to the questions. Pauses also help each other to reflect and comprehend that has been spoken during telephone conversation. It also shows that you have good listening skills.
If you do not know when to take a pause, just genuinely involve your heart into the conversation and you will take natural pauses intuitively and instinctively.

Put a Pleasing End

Whether the call is successful or not, ending the telephone call with same enthusiasm, energy and excitement determines the positive attitude of a person. Words and phrases such as "Thank you for your call", "I really enjoyed the conversation with you", shows the interest and positive acceptance during the telephone conversation. Also replace negative words with positive or neutral words and phrases.
Being a professional is one of the life roles almost all of us play in our life time. 9P mnemonic can add value to your online virtual platform to conduct remote coaching, facilitation workshops. Use this mnemonic 10P as a memory aid to recall some of the basic telephone etiquette tips before taking a customer service job interview.

For both professional and personal life, etiquette plays a vital role. Here, whether you're a sales and/or customer service representative, or a call center agent, follow these simple etiquette tips to excel in your profession. This practice is one of the best ways to show empathy with customers over phone or chat.