Has this ever happened to you? You’re smack-dab in the middle of a busy few weeks when suddenly, you get the vague recollection of an important meeting coming up. Shoot. Was it this week or next week? You search for that one-off email containing meeting details, raking through various threads in Microsoft Outlook — until you finally give up and ask your boss to resend the information. Not the best use of your time
Slack was created to put all of your team’s communication in one place. You can integrate other apps into your Slack account, which makes it easy to schedule meetings right from Slack. Your team will get a notification that can come in on any platform — Android, iOS, or desktop. Slack team functionality with other platforms makes it easier than ever to schedule team meetings.
This guide will unpack how to integrate apps with Slack, start a Zoom meeting right in the Slack workspace, and use Slack to cut back on the number of Zoom meetings you have in a day. Plus, we’ll offer a few more practical tips for how to have more productive team meetings via Zoom.
Integrating apps with Slack
Slack integration has made it incredibly easy to use other apps directly in the Slack workspace.
On the left-hand sidebar, you’ll see “more.” If you click on that, there’s an “Apps” tab. When selected, it gives you the option to integrate apps into the Slack workspace. Whether your team prefers Zoom or Cisco Webex Meetings for video conferencing calls, you can add it to your Slack workspace with just a few simple clicks. Now you can plan your Zoom meeting right from Slack. To integrate Slack with Zoom, you will need a Slack Business+ account or higher, but the pricing is very reasonable for all of the benefits that you gain from your Slack account.
To set up a video meeting via Slack, just create an event in the Google Calendar app for Slack. Add the relevant meeting details (like meeting time and attendees). If you integrate Google Calendar, this will automatically add the scheduled time slot to your calendar which makes it that much easier to remember.
When you schedule the meeting, go ahead and set up a reminder for everyone in the channel by typing “/command” and then designating when you want the reminder about your team meeting to be sent out. This will help attendance as team members will get a notification before the meeting starts.
Starting your Zoom meeting in Slack
After you schedule the event in Slack using the Google Calendar app (complete with all the meeting details your team needs to know), you set up the notification for the team meeting, and now you’re ready to hop on that video call. The final step is to send your Slack channel the Zoom meeting details.
Start by typing “/zoom help” and then hit enter — this will give you an overview of all the different commands you can send in the Slack channel (it will only be visible to you). For example, if you want to launch the meeting right away, you can type “/zoom” and everyone will get a link they can click on to join the meeting. You can also use the command “/zoom meeting [topic]” this command will send everyone a Zoom meeting link with the name of the meeting displayed on top.
Is a video meeting necessary?
Do you ever feel like you spend more time in team meetings than actually getting work done? Especially with coordinating schedules across time zones, finding a good time to do a video call can be challenging. Before scheduling a video meeting, ask yourself if it could happen via Slack messages instead.
For example, your team standup meeting can happen on Slack messages. Send a message to your team channel saying “@channel send me your game plan for the day” then, follow up in thread comments with feedback you have or leave an emoji response.
By adding “@channel” at the start, everyone will get a notification letting them know they need to read and respond to your message. What was a 45-minute standup meeting turns into a rundown that you can quickly review without disrupting your workflow.
If you have a quick question for someone, you can hop on the Slack app and check their Slack status in real-time. If they’re around, send them a direct message. They’ll get a push notification from Slack and will know to get back to you quickly. Direct, seamless communication will help your team members be more effective as it gives you the benefit of collaboration without disrupting your workflow.
Tips for a good meeting
Most team meetings are still necessary. Use these tips and tricks to make the time more effective and enjoyable!
Send your team the game plan for the meeting ahead of time.
Make sure everyone in the channel is notified by adding “@channel” somewhere in the message. If you are planning on having someone give an update on a certain project, let them know by tagging them in the agenda. This could look like, “@maggie, we’re looking forward to hearing about your progress with X.”
Schedule the meeting in the Google Calendar app and add a notification reminder.
Have you ever been in a video call with half your team wondering if the other half is planning on showing up? It’s frustrating and a waste of time.
That’s a pretty easy waste of time to avoid. Just schedule a reminder to the channel with “/command.” Now, everyone will get a notification before the meeting starts, reminding them to tune in to the video meeting.
Use screen sharing to share visual information.
What used to go on the projector at the front of the room can still be seen by everyone in the video conference via Zoom screen sharing.
Recap the action points with your team members in the appropriate Slack channel.
As you’re talking with your team about next steps, designate one person to jot down the action points. Then, when you finish the meeting, send them to the team Slack channel and tag the appropriate person for each project.
One more tip for Slack + meeting magic: Adding the Clockwise app to your Slack helps make meetings even better by:
- Syncing your calendar to your Slack status so colleagues know when you’re available, OOO, or in a meeting
- Automatically turning on Do Not Disturb when you’re in Focus Time
- Sending you a daily digest of your upcoming meetings
- Updating you in Slack when your meetings move
Going forward
Slack streamlines work collaboration. There’s no reason it can’t also streamline creating, joining, and managing your meetings. With the Google Calendar for Slack app and Clockwise for Slack, you can spend less time managing your calendar and more time in your meetings and in Focus Time for deep work.
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