Communication Etiquette 101: Tips for Better Email & Zoom Conversations

While some of the tips below may seem obvious to some, I find time and time again as a Communication Coordinator for the district that my daily digital conversations lack basic etiquette. Formal handwritten letters and hard copies are becoming a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean proper use of grammar and tone should go away with it! Here are  a few tips on how to better communicate in a digital sense:  

Tips for Email Etiquette: 

• Respond by smartphone only if the recipient needs an urgent answer from you. If the email requires a longer response, please use your laptop or desktop computer instead. It’s usually better to take time to spellcheck and please leave emojis out of it!
  
• Keep your emails kind, professional, and to the point:
  • Kind: Remember that another person is on the receiving end of your email! Sometimes a short, robotic response will seem cold and cause the recipient to think you are upset with them. Warm up your email with an exclamation point, a question about how the person is doing, and/or a nice sign-off (i.e. I hope you are doing well!)
  • Professional: Address the recipient of your email at the start with a greeting (i.e. Good morning Laura,), then write out the body of your email with appropriate paragraph breaks, and finish it with a kind sign-off followed by your signature. 
  • To the point: If your email is turning into longer than two or three short paragraphs, it may be best to send an attachment with a shorter email message or schedule a phone call instead. 

Tips for Zoom Etiquette:

• Attendee tips:
  • Keep yourself muted when you are not speaking so others aren’t distracted by your background noise. 
  • Look professional. Even though getting ready for the day can be a challenge while working from home, it’s important to pull yourself together for Zoom meetings. It’s still a meeting after all! 
  • Engage in the chat or Q&A before cutting off the speaker. Unless it is an open conversation where you can freely unmute yourself, don’t assume it’s your turn to speak. Everyone’s time needs to be respected during a Zoom meeting.
• Host tips: 
  • Ask everyone to mute themselves unless they are meant to speak freely during the meeting 
  • Lay out communication guidelines at the beginning 
    • Specifically state if you’d like people to communicate by unmuting themselves or in the chat/raising their hand
    • Let others know if there will be time set aside throughout the meeting or at the end to ask questions or comment. This way you won’t be interrupted as often. 
  • Give opportunities for people to engage with the meeting by utilizing the polling feature, raise hand function, Q&A, and chat.  

    I hope you found these tips helpful! If you have suggestions for better communications etiquette please email me at schultzs@njdistrict.org. I will be releasing more articles in this series dealing with newsletters, social media, and website communication. Thanks for taking the time to read!