Online meetings: what do you think?

[Eleonora]

I’m doing remote meetings very often in this period. I like this kind of session because it’s more structured and organized and everybody can ask for permission to speak without interrupting anyone. Moreover, you can take forward your business if the meeting is boring 😄. However, as with any situation where there is no face-to-face contact, they can turn into cold events, and shyer people (such as me 😊) can find it difficult to jump into the conversation.

[Kerin]

Glad that you’re finding remote meetings a mostly positive experience and an effective use of time @eleonora.rossi

I think you make a good point there; they can certainly feel more structured. I do find I lose less time than meetings in person.

I would also have to agree with about the ‘cold’ aspect. I’m currently doing an Italian course by Zoom and I sometimes find it embarrassing because we are all fairly shy and there can be many awkward silences!

Note:

Strong grammar structures and nice vocabulary Eleonora, well done. Just a question: in this phrase: Moreover, you can take forward your business if the meeting is boring what do you mean exactly? Do you mean skip something? Or go quicker? Thanks!

[Eleonora]

Hi Kerin! With that phrase (not much clear maybe 😄) I mean that during boring meetings you can do your stuff without anyone noticing it!

Thanks for the feedback 😉

[Kerin]

Ok got you @eleonora.rossi 😜

You can say this: Moreover, you can get on with your own your business / get on with other stuff if the meeting is boring 😂

👍

[Michele.Barbagli]

Hi Kerin,

pandemic has been a disrupting event for what concerning daily routine.

I have been switching from 1 or 2 online meetings per week to 6/8 meetings per day… definitely a life changing switch !

From my experience, physical meeting is needed to better approach a new relation and to generate trust; once you know and trust each other, online meeting is definitely the best solution .

[Kerin]

Hi @Michele.Barbagli

Oh my goodness, that is a big change indeed. What are the implications of the increase in online meetings for you? I’m curious if you feel more or less productive?!

Notes:

Have a look at the corrections below:

1. you need to use the article here; the pandemic, a physical meeting, an online meeting

Alternatively, you could make meetings plural: From my experience, physical meetings are …. / online meetings are definitely ….

(I recommend you do the section called ‘Articles’ in the advanced unit in the grammar course. I’ll be sending out the access to this course later today)

2. This is a tricky phrase. We should make “disrupting event” a noun: disruption and we can make the sentence less wordy (remember in English, less is more 😅)

so: The pandemic has been a disruption to/on our daily routine.

3. Here you need to use the present perfect: I’ve switched from … (The present perfect continuous focuses on the duration of something, so we don’t tend to use it with verbs (like switch, fix etc) that don’t have a continuous state.

(There is a present perfect section in the upper intermediate unit that you’ll find useful)

👍

[Manuela.Lelli]

I think that face to face meetings avoid easy distractions

[Kerin]

@Manuela.Lelli Are there any times where you find online meetings to be more productive than face to face?

[Michele]

Before the pandemic I usually did one or two online meetings per week and I do at least one online meeting every day.

I don’t like them very much but now it’s the only way to keep in touch with people.

I think that are more effective than a message or email but I prefer a face-to-face meeting because you can see if people are focus on the topic of the meeting or they think to somenthing else

[Kerin]

Hi @Michele.Baldi thanks for sharing your ideas.

Is it group meetings that you don’t like very much or also one-to-one meetings? Just a curiosity!

Have a look at my notes here:

> Before the pandemic I usually did one or two online meetings per week and NOW I do at least one online meeting every day. By adding the word ‘now’ this phrase has much more impact.

> I think that THEY are more effective than a message or email, (comma here!) but I prefer a face-to-face meeting because you can see if people are focusED (to be focused) on the topic of the meeting or IF they ARE thinkING ABOUT something else

⚠️ take a look at this post for the verb think

https://hub.englishdigitalacademy.com/forums/topic/prepositions-after-the-verb-think/

Prepositions after the verb: THINK

[Jacopo]

Hi Kerin,

my daily routine has been significantely changed with the start of the Covid pandemic in fact before the 2020 I was used to do like 1/2 remote meetings per week and now I’m doing like 2/3 remote meeting on daily bases.

I don’t really dislike doing remote meeting instead of face-to-face since the time call for social distancing, obviously there are some pro and cons on doing meeting remotely.

The pros that I can think about are that you can stay in touch with everybody instantly even if they are far far away and that you can schedule a meeting in less than 10 min with your colleagues, the con instead, for my experience, is that you can’t express at fullest via webcam but that can come from my italian blood, I tend to use body language often.

[Diego]

Hello Karin,

I was used to having online meetings before the Covid pandemic, so not much hase changed for me.

I really like them mainly because you can arrange them easily and in a short time, without worring about finding a suitable meeting room and without all the hassle of gathering many people in the same place at the same time.

I also find that they are more organized and focused on the subject, so I think they are a great tool when you have to discuss about technical and organizational matters.

I think that face-to-face meetings are still better if you have to estabilish relationships and, in general, in all the situations where the human factor is a key part of the meeting.

[Kerin]

Hi Diego,

I couldn’t agree more! (The Britishness in me loves the focus, lack of of hassle and faff!) Having said that, I also agree that face-to-face meetings can be better, especially when you need to brainstorm or make key decisions.

Well written @Diego.Magionami your grammar structures are sound and I like the vocabulary you have used.

The only things I would like to highlight are:

> worrying (it’s probably just a typo though!)

> discuss (doesn’t take a preposition)

[Kerin]

Hi Jacopo,

I think it’s useful to see it in this balanced way; like anything I suppose there are pros and cons. I would have to agree that I like the freedom online meetings give us, but of course, we lose something online. They are great for day-to-day stuff but perhaps less effective for brainstorming or sensitive decision making… I can imagine it’s painful for Italians 😂

@j.artini this is well-written and expressed quite clearly. There are a few things you need to watch: please have a look at these corrections and let me know if you need anything clarified

> ❌ my daily routine has been significantely changed with the start of the Covid pandemic (this is the passive voice, which is incorrect)

> ✅ my daily routine has significantly changed with the start of the Covid pandemic

*see advanced section: the passive in the grammar course Tense Buster to review this

> ❌ I was used to do

>✅ I was used to DOING or I used to do (see this video for info on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Gxa23-I7Y))

> for my experience replace ‘for’ with ‘in’ > in my experience

> watch your plurals and articles!

…and now I’m doing like 2/3 remote meetingS on A daily bases (basis)

… I don’t really dislike doing remote meetingS instead of face-to-face since the time call for social distancing, obviously there are some proS and cons on doing meetingS remotely.

If you have time Jacopo, please try and re-write this with the corrections – it’ll help you consolidate 👍