Cures for Virtual Meeting Fatigue

Art by Katherine Streeter

For so many adviser firms across the retirement space, the way they conduct business has changed drastically since the start of the pandemic, which has forced employees and clients to observe social distancing rules.

“Pre-pandemic, we were meeting with plan sponsors and their financial professionals in person, and occasionally via tele- or videoconference,” says Stephanie Mehta, national manager, field relationships management, retirement solutions, with Securian Financial in Saint Paul, Minnesota. “During the pandemic, we are exclusively meeting with plan sponsors and their financial professionals via web-based videoconference. We also hold teleconferences for general questions and discussions, as we did pre-pandemic.”

Virtual meetings are not entirely new for most advisers, but they also were not the method de rigueur of doing business before this year. A recent survey by Greenwich Associates found, in the past six months, nearly two-thirds of advisers have increased their time spent in virtual meetings with clients, and half spend more time in attending virtual events and webinars than they did before.

When advisers previously opted for virtual client or committee meetings, the client may have seen it as a cost-savings measure; the meeting typically was a teleconference to discuss the quarterly report, sources say.

A number of advisers speaking recently at the PLANADVISER National Conference (PANC) agreed that virtual meetings are not only here for the duration of COVID-19, but may remain a preferred means to communicate with clients even after the coronavirus’ grip on our daily lives has subsided.

That said, it is important to make the most of such meetings. What follow are some best practices to keep in mind.

Set the Scene

It is important to make sure you log in to a meeting from the most professional-looking setting possible. To keep the attention of meeting attendees, remove anything that could potentially distract them, says Stace Hilbrant, managing director of 401k Advisors in Chicago.

That means decluttering the room or wall behind you. Test your computer’s or laptop’s audio to make sure you come across crisply. Investing in a microphone and camera, rather than relying on those built into your computer, will create noticeably better sound and picture quality, says Daniel Milan, a financial adviser and managing partner of Cornerstone Financial Services in Southfield, Michigan.

According to a Zoom help site, using a well-lit room with carpeting, which absorbs sound, also helps. Practice looking at the camera—it should be at eye level—rather than your screen, which will give participants the illusion of eye contact.

It is also important to be comfortable with whichever platform you use—be it Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, or some other system, says Rich Rausser, senior vice president of client services at Pentegra in White Plains, New York. If a client prefers that you use a platform less familiar to you, devote some time ahead of your meeting to getting comfortable with controls, so you can easily mute and unmute yourself, share documents and use the messaging function.

“The last thing you want to do is be surprised by a platform and have to ask, ‘How does this work?’ or ‘How do I control it?’” Rausser says.

Critique Yourself

Many platforms allow participants to record meetings. Using this function can give you insight you might not get otherwise into what it is like to attend one of your meetings. This can help you adjust how much time you spend on a specific slide, or home in on areas that could flow better.

“When I present, I put myself mentally into the room with the participants, like I’m presenting to a live audience,” Rausser says. “You don’t just want to be in the mode where you’re standing there in front of a computer staring into space. Project yourself into the audience.”

Besides evaluating your sound, picture and presentation quality, you might also watch participant reactions to the discussion. If during certain parts of the call you can see engagement waning, consider reorganizing that material for next time or finding another way to share that information.

Showcase Your Expertise

While you do not want to overload clients with meetings, this is also an opportunity to prove your value as an adviser. In addition to standard committee meetings, you might also offer webinars or private sessions to discuss topics important to your clients right now, such as plan participation or implementation of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act.

Milan has used virtual meetings as a way to not only discuss the SECURE Act—and its potentially huge impact on small businesses—with clients but also to introduce them to the pooled employer plan (PEP) platform that his firm has been building.

“Those meetings have been really well-received,” he says.

Virtual meetings, of course, should be just one part of your content strategy.

“Outside of meetings, it’s also important to provide timely legislative and topic updates in a format that can be accessed at any time,” Mehta says. “Our plan sponsor and financial professional websites include always-available resources such as a COVID-19 retirement plan support page.”

Keep It Short

Meetings that drone on make it tempting for attendees to shift attention to other things on, or off, their computer screen, especially if they spend much of their day in online meetings.

Keeping meeting length to 30 through 45 minutes, max, is key to holding the attention of participants, Rausser says. That may sound tight, but keep in mind that virtual meetings are inherently much more efficient. Participants are more likely to be on time, and because they can only typically hear one person at a time on most platforms, cross talk gets significantly reduced.

“People have just sort of learned that they can’t talk over each other, so the content gets delivered much more efficiently, from a time perspective,” Hilbrant says. “It’s probably taken a third of the total time out of meetings.”

You can reduce time further by paring back your agenda. If there are topics you want to share but that need no discussion, include them as “read-only” items in the materials you send in advance, Hilbrant says. For particularly complicated subjects, consider breaking one hour’s worth of material into two 30-minute meetings.

Choose Other Ways to Connect

While the lack of small talk makes for efficient meetings, it may also have a detrimental impact on relationships you have built with clients. When you no longer have a chance to ask anyone about their kids or what they did over the weekend, it is harder to feel connected to them on a personal level.

“The committee meetings, and the participants I’ve gotten to know over the years have been a highlight of my career,” Hilbrant says. “I miss those things, and I can’t wait to get back to that.”

In the meantime, Hilbrant says, he has been making phone calls to his closest contacts before sending over plan documents ahead of a meeting. He uses the calls to give the contacts a heads-up to expect the material, but also as an opportunity to check in and see how they are.

Rausser says he recently attended a virtual networking event at a virtual conference in which he was speaking. “It was interesting,” he says. “It was like when you get to a speaking engagement a few minutes early to see who’s in the room before you get up to the podium.”

Be Creative About Participant Meetings

Advisers who conduct meetings directly with plan participants should take their lead from the plan sponsor in terms of how to structure presentations. Along with virtual meetings with participants, Hilbrant says, he also has clients who still want meetings held in person.

To do that in the age of social distancing, Hilbrant meets participants in a conference room while they are both wearing masks. Hilbrant will sit with his computer at one end of the room, while the participant views a separate laptop at the other end.

“It depends on what the employer’s rules are about having visitors in,” he says. “Some employers want you to come in, and others aren’t back to work, or they’re back to work but don’t want anyone from the outside to come in.”

Get Used to It

One thing that the last six months have taught advisers is that the virtual meeting is here to stay. The savings—in both money and time—that accrue from meeting virtually when meeting otherwise would have required a two- or three-day business trip are significant.

“With travel time reduced, we’ve been able to be even more flexible with scheduling meetings and can move faster on post-meeting action items,” Mehta says.

Virtual meetings are also convenient for busy executives and plan committees whose members are geographically distant.

“It’s definitely something we’re all going to continue doing for a lot longer than we expected,” Rausser says. “It has opened up a whole new world and a new way of doing business, quite honestly. It’s actually worked pretty well.”

That experience, shared by many advisers, has many of them looking for ways to improve their virtual offerings even more.

When Milan realized that virtual meetings were not going anywhere, he upgraded his office conference room with a 60-inch wall-mount television connected to a microphone and camera.

“We noticed a significant difference in how the conversations would go, once we set that up,” he says. “It’s more formal, you’re in the office setting, and it feels like more of a presentation.”

According to Mehta, “We continue to invest thoughtfully in technology solutions that will enhance our participant experience and enable us to better serve our plan sponsors. While the pandemic forced everyone to navigate an electronic environment, we’ve embraced the change and are committed to providing our excellent service in any environment.”