We need to discuss your meeting etiquette. Somebody’s got to say it, and clearly that someone will not be who works in the same office. You know what we’re talking about. The person who arrives five minutes late spends an additional three minutes adjusting his audio setup, yet he still cannot hear the call properly and ends up doing something else while pretending to pay attention throughout the meeting.
Maybe that person is you. If you’re not sure, it probably is. Remote work translates to about 31 hours of your life a month vanishing into virtual meetings. That’s almost a full week. Just gone. You find yourself staring at a screen filled with small boxes displaying people’s faces, trying to discern whether they are paying attention or simply nodding along while checking their fantasy football scores.
So yeah, virtual meeting etiquette matters. Not because some HR person wrote it in a manual somewhere, but because your coworkers are already annoyed with you and you don’t even know it.
Get There Early, Not “On Time”
Showing up to the meeting on the dot is not being there on time. It’s being late. You show up at 2 on the dot and everyone else has been sitting there since 1:58, trying to make awkward small talk and waiting for you. Join five minutes early. Test your stuff. That your mic is working, that your video’s clear and that your internet is not going to crash right in the middle of the meeting.
Sure, it’s not exactly rocket science, but for some reaso,n not everyone manages to make it work. Late? Then slip in quietly. No need to make an announcement by walking in and interrupting everything. Nobody cares. Use the chat to say you’re there and move on.
Your Mute Button Is Your Best Friend
If you’re not actively speaking, mute yourself. I don’t care what you think you’re doing. Mute. Yourself. Background noise drives people absolutely crazy. A recent survey found it’s one of the top complaints about virtual calls, and I believe it. Your dog. Your doorbell. Your kid yelling from another room. That weird clicking noise you make with your pen when you’re thinking.
All of it needs to stop. Here’s what happens when you don’t mute. Everyone else sits there listening to your chaos while trying to focus on whoever’s actually talking. They’re not paying attention to the meeting anymore. They’re sitting there silently fuming about why you can’t figure out basic technology after three years of doing this. The virtual meeting etiquette meaning here is simple. Your stuff stays your problem, not everyone else’s problem.
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Put On Real Clothes
Yeah, I know. You’re working from home. You can wear whatever you’d like. That’s the dream, right? But if you roll out of bed wearing the same shirt for two days and look in that camera, guess what? And they judge. They perhaps should not, but they do. There is no need for a suit and tie. Just present yourself as a professional who cares about their work. Comb your hair.
Put on a clean shirt. At a minimum, make it seem like you have showered within the last 24 hours. And before you say your camera’s off, so it doesn’t matter, cameras get turned on. Happens all the time. Someone wants to see reactions. The client asks for a video. Your boss decides everyone needs to be visible. Don’t be caught looking like trash.
Clean Up What’s Behind You
Your background tells people things whether you want it to or not. That stack of dirty dishes. The unmade bed. The pile of junk you’ve been meaning to deal with for three weeks. Everyone sees it. Find a clean wall. Have a tidy bookshelf. Something that doesn’t scream “my life is a disaster”. Close the door so your roommate doesn’t walk through in their underwear. These are basic things. Can’t fix your space? Fine. Use a virtual background. Just pick something normal. Not the beach. Not outer space. Not anything that makes you look like you’re trying too hard to be quirky. A plain office background works just fine.
Actually Pay Attention
Multitasking during meetings is so obvious it’s almost funny. Your eyes drift to the side. You take forever to respond when someone asks you something. You have no idea what was just discussed five seconds ago. Studies show people are worse at multitasking than they think. Way worse. You’re not the exception. You’re not secretly great at doing three things at once. You’re just doing all of them badly. Turn off your notifications.
Close your other tabs. Put your phone somewhere you can’t see it. Be in the meeting you’re actually in. These are the virtual meeting rules for participants that everyone’s supposed to follow, but half the people ignore. If the meeting’s so boring you can’t focus, maybe it should’ve been an email. But if you’re there, actually be there. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time and everyone else’s.
Wait Your Turn to Talk
There is latency in virtual calls. One person stops talking, and you hop in, and so do two others, and suddenly it’s an unholy mess of people talking over one another, and nobody can hear anything. Wait a beat after someone completes. Let the lag catch up. If your platform allows a raise-hand button. And don’t just barge in whenever. And please don’t be the person who goes on a 10-minute run with your answer. Make your point and shut up. Let other people contribute. No one respects the guy who makes every meeting his own personal TED talk.
Check Your Tech Before, Not During
You know what’s annoying? Watching someone spend the first fifteen minutes of a meeting trying to fix their technical problems while everyone else sits there doing nothing. About 77% of workers say they’ve lost time because tech issues delayed a meeting. That’s a lot of wasted hours because people can’t be bothered to test their setup beforehand. Do a practice call. Make sure everything works. Have a backup plan if your internet dies. Know how to dial in by phone if you need to. All of this should happen before you join the actual meeting.
Stop Moving Around So Much
Fidgeting on the camera is terribly distracting. You touch your face. Play with your hair. Push your glasses up on your nose every 30 seconds. Rock in your chair from side to side. Everyone can see it, and it’s driving them mad. Get comfortable, and stick with it. Yes, keep your hands still or out of the picture. Stop swiveling around in your chair like a fidgety child. These virtual meeting etiquette do’s and don’ts are on the books because somewhere, someplace, someone irritated enough folks so that it became a rule.
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Use Chat Properly
The chat function is handy if you need to share links or ask rapid questions. But it’s not private. And no, even direct messages are not as secure as you might believe. Screenshots exist. Don’t gossip in chat. Don’t complain. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of everyone at the meeting. Because it can and will come back to people, and you will look stupid. Also, don’t engage in a whole side conversation that veers off topic. Keep it relevant. Keep it short. Don’t be the one to try and turn the chat into your personal soapbox.
Know When to Leave
Not every meeting needs you there for the full time. Is your part done? The rest doesn’t involve you? It’s okay to go. But tell people. Don’t just vanish. A quick “I need to jump off; thanks, everyone” in the chat works fine. Just disappearing makes people wonder if you got disconnected or what happened. This is part of virtual meeting etiquette for employees that a lot of companies are still figuring out. Some places want you there the whole time no matter what. Others are cool with people leaving when they’re not needed. Know what your workplace expects.
The Real Problem
Here’s the thing. These rules exist because people kept screwing up. Someone showed up in pajamas too many times. Someone’s dog barked through an entire presentation. Someone ate lunch on camera, and it was gross. Virtual meeting etiquette examples aren’t meant to make you paranoid about every little thing. They’re meant to create an environment where work actually gets done instead of everyone sitting there annoyed at each other. Would you do this stuff in person? Show up late? Leave your phone ringing on the table? Eat a full meal while someone’s presenting?
Get up and walk out without saying anything? No? Then don’t do it virtually. Remote work isn’t going anywhere. Hybrid setups are here to stay. Virtual meetings are part of life now, whether you like it or not. So you might as well get good at them instead of being that person everyone dreads seeing pop up on the call. Your coworkers will notice. Your boss will notice. And maybe, just maybe, your meetings will suck a little less. Though honestly, they’re still meetings. They’re always going to suck at least a little bit. That’s just the nature of meetings. But at least they don’t have to suck because of you.
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