Last post, I shared our 3 tips about how to re-create the in-person office magic in your virtual office. The application of these 3 simple tips helps create faster decisions, broader networks and the magical moments in between meetings where the real in-person office magic occurs.

In this post, I’ll share another 3 tips to make your virtual office feel even more natural and inclusive.

Tip 4 — ”Peeking through the window” to see who’s there makes it easier to connect

Problem

Humans are social beings and curious by nature. When we walk around an in-person office we savour the opportunity to peek through a window to see who’s there. Getting a glimpse of someone you know helps us feel connected. It also lets us pop in for a sec and just say hi.

Tip

In a Berst office, you can encourage your team members to hover over the participant count for each room to see who’s there. Just like in real life you can get a glimpse of who is talking in each room to find out where your friends are.

You should hear

“Oh if you’re looking for Jane, She’s over in Room 5 talking with Bob.”

Tip 5 — Encourage people to “shout out” like they can in the room

Problem

In a virtual office, it can be difficult to coordinate activities. Sending a message in chat can be easily overlooked; getting people to meet in a specific room can feel challenging and particularly tiring when you need to find and message each person individually.

Tip

Ask teams to make use of Berst’s ability to broadcast messages. Berst broadcasts are sent to all people in your Berst office in a non-intrusive, synchronous way that makes sure that they get the message. This can be used to let someone know that you will be waiting in a particular room for them when they are done, or everyone that an open invitation meeting is about to start, or even whether a particular person can join you as soon as possible.

You should hear

“Hey Jessica, we are in Room 10 at the moment talking about the new product ideas. Would you mind joining us asap would love your input?”

Tip 6—Check who’s been speaking, to make a more inclusive workplace

Problem

It is easy for a virtual meeting to be dominated by specific individuals. This might not be their intention, but less dominant speakers can find it hard to get an opportunity to add their 2c. To make matters worse, video conference technology will often suppress a less dominant speaker’s audio to make sure there aren’t overlapping audio streams.

Tip

Leverage Berst’s speaker stats and mood analysis for a fun and insightful way to drive more inclusive meetings. Seeing who speaks the least can help you ask for their input explicitly and draw valuable perspectives from those least likely to speak.

You should say

“Alex, I noticed you haven’t had the chance to say much just yet; what was your view on our quarterly performance numbers?”

These 3 additional tips are extremely simple to apply on top of our first 3 tips and make a drastic difference to how the virtual office feels. No gimmicky avatars and virtual furniture getting in the way of creating real connections. Just simple and easy ways to see your friends and get them involved with the work you are doing.

If you’d like to see how easy it is to put these 3 additional tips into action on Berst, find us at www.berst.io or reach out to Omar Andrade or Peter Lee for a live demo.

See you on Berst!

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