Virtual meetings, once a rare occurrence, are now commonplace. In fact, in 2022 Zoom amassed 3.3 trillion meeting minutes with each of us spending on average 10 hours per week in virtual meetings. You might be thinking you have scheduling down pat, but I urge you to read on! Virtual meetings have opened us up to the world. Held with people across the globe – Europe, Asia, the U.S., as an assistant, they come with the challenge of navigating time zones. Not to mention the delicate task of working out who stays up late and wakes up early- sometimes excruciatingly so!
Mistakes are easy to make, in fact I just scheduled a meeting with a colleague in Sydney (I am in the UK today) and sent the invite for the wrong time…. must take note of the coming tips!
And it is not just virtual meetings, with international travel back we are scheduling meetings all over the world. Factoring in jet lag and even multiple changes to time zones for the same country, as experienced last month! Use these top tips and tools, to get it right the first time, no matter the time zone!
Tip 1 – Use the other person’s time zones
To avoid any confusion always use the time zone of the person or people you are setting up a meeting with. In any emails or communication when arranging a suitable time and date for a meeting using their time makes scheduling easier for them. It saves them figuring out time differences, mitigating any chance of error or confusion. Do not forget to specify the time zone as well, e.g. AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) , AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time), GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), so they know you have already made the conversion!
Tip 2 – Record the meeting
This is particularly useful when planning virtual meetings with many participants across multiple time zones. Recording the meeting means those who cannot make the meeting can catch up with anything discussed at a time convenient to them. With a recording in hand, you can also catch up with what has been discussed, actions you need to take and anything you might need to follow up on. As we know for an assistant information is like gold!
Tip 3 – Be time zone sensitive
When scheduling meetings be aware of the time of day for all participants. If a meeting is scheduled outside of normal working hours, check that it works for them and doesn’t impinge on other commitments. If you are arranging regular calls with the same people, be mindful to shift the times around so everyone has their fair share of early, or late calls. As an assistant it falls to you to use your influence, kindness, and compassion to ensure everyone is happy with the agreed time, even it is does fall at an anti-social hour for some people. Finally, acknowledging people’s time and thanking them for their flexibility goes a long way, it makes them feel valued and respected.
Bonus – Must use tools
You don’t have to go it alone with figuring this out. We have found some useful tools to assist:
Time zone ninja – This is super handy for figuring out what time is going to be best for participants across multiple time zones. Simply add participants’ locations and preferred date/time and the tool suggests the optimal meeting time across those time zones.
Calendly – Ever find yourself in that endless back and forth with finding a convenient time to meet? Calendly can abolish that….simply set your executive’s available times and share the provided link with those requiring a meeting. They choose a convenient day/time for them within that availability and you both receive confirmation, its as easy as that!
World clock app– Often communicating with other time zones, this one is useful for quickly checking the time in another time zone. You can save your favourites or most used and at a glance see the time, it might only shave off a few minutes of time but as busy assistants every little helps.
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