Searching ‘conference call etiquette,’ using Google yields 8,640,000 results. There are a lot of opinions about etiquette and conference calls! If you are working from home, video conference calls have taken the place of meetings – whether you like them or hate them, they have truly become part of the routine.

The staff at NCCEP passed around this video, which is a goofy take on conference calls, but certainly hits close to home in the accuracy of the experience. In the Washington DC area, we are closing out Week 7 of working from home and it’s been a little over a month since I posted about telework. I thought it would be a good time to revisit the topic.

Flexibility has been key. In my initial blog, I noted that flexibility is essential because there are unique interruptions and distractions to our work in a remote setting. I don’t think I anticipated exactly what kinds of interruptions and distractions would be happening, though. Some mild -- I’ve learned that my dog enjoys making herself known whenever I’m on a call with a click-click-click noise as she paces the hardwood floors. I’ve had chances to meet my colleagues’ family members and to say hi to their pets when they pop into view of the webcam. Other things that create interruptions: doorbells ringing, a fire alarm test in the building lobby, and stormy weather causing spotty Internet. I’ve also had a couple days where I just consumed too much news and I found myself having trouble focusing on work. All this to say that my colleagues have been lenient and flexible with me, and I’m happy to offer the same to them.

The increase in the conference calls I’ve been having has given me an opportunity to see how other teams throughout the GEAR UP community run their meetings. I recently joined a call with GEAR UP Massachusetts, with GEAR UP Director Robert Dais‍, where their team presented virtual meeting norms at the beginning of the meeting. So, one tip I'd add to my initial blog post is the idea of agreeing upon and setting meeting norms for conference calls. Norms are a great way to set the tone for the meeting and they also help staff figure out how to conduct themselves in an online meeting – potentially a place where we may not have had lots of experience prior to the COVID-19 pandemic because we conducted meetings in-person. Norms turn into something reliable: everyone agrees upon the way we will conduct ourselves in this space so we respect each other by following them. Norms can be things like staying muted when not speaking, keeping webcams on, giving a thumbs up gesture to signal agreement or support, starting and ending meetings on time. Some video conference platforms allow you to “raise a hand” when you want to chime in – this works for all ages as I learned the tip from my colleague Kelly Pappas‍  after she told me her kids utilize that function during their calls for school.

At NCCEP, Betty Paugh Ortiz‍ created a weekly Program team meeting at the end of the day on Fridays to check-in. In this short meeting (we end right at 5pm), we each highlight something good that happened that week. The norms of that call create a positive and supportive end to the week, and it’s also a signal that it’s time to shut down and walk away from the computer.

A great resource that developed out of our current situation and circumstances is a recorded Webinar that featured Dr. Natalie Milman from George Washington University. Dr. Milman says, “What we as educators are experiencing now is emergency remote teaching and learning-or as some have called it, ‘pandemic pedagogy.” If you haven’t checked it out yet, the recording on Practical, Positive, and Productive Strategies for Working Remotely gives a lot of great information, examples, and ideas to aid in creatively finding solutions.

I’m interested in hearing what norms and tips have been adopted in your meetings and with your teams. If you’d like to contribute, please leave a comment. We can create a resource compilation of norms, tips, ideas, and experiences relating to conference calls from within the GEAR UP community.