Remote meetings become more human when they stop being just a way to transmit information and bring back what happens in an office: casual chats, a sense of being in the same place, and natural turn-taking. You get there with three levers: fewer and shorter meetings, rituals that make room for the personal side, and formats other than the grid of faces, like 3D spaces where each person appears as an avatar.
Here are concrete ideas for small and mid-sized teams, no budget required.
What makes a remote meeting feel cold
Before changing anything, it helps to name the problem:
- It’s all agenda. You join, talk about work, and leave. No hallway, no coffee.
- The grid is exhausting. Looking at lots of faces at once, including your own, for an hour wears you out.
- Nobody knows when to talk. Without body language, people talk over each other or stay silent.
- The same people always talk. The most outgoing dominate; everyone else turns off their camera and disappears.
- Mandatory cameras. For many people, it’s a daily pressure: the room, the clothes, the lighting.
Fewer, better meetings
The most human thing you can do is not steal people’s time.
- Ask whether it’s needed. If it’s just to share information, a written message or a voice note might be enough.
- Make them shorter. A 25-minute meeting instead of 30, or 50 instead of 60, leaves breathing room between calls.
- Schedule with a purpose. Every meeting should have a question to answer or a decision to make.
- A meeting-free day each week, if the team can sustain it.
Rituals that bring people closer
Remote teams that feel close usually have small, recurring rituals.
Check-in rounds
For the first five minutes, a light question for everyone:
- What was the best part of your weekend?
- What are you listening to or reading?
- From 1 to 5, how much energy are you bringing today?
It helps everyone speak at least once and gives context: if someone comes in at a 2, the team knows.
The no-agenda coffee
An open room, once or twice a week, where people drop in to chat about anything. No obligation. It replaces the office hallway.
Celebrations
Birthdays, work anniversaries, the end of a project. Five minutes at the start of a meeting already makes a difference.
Get-togethers outside of work
Once a month, something different: a game, trivia, watching something together. There are ideas in virtual hangouts with friends that work with teams too.
Change the format: beyond the grid
The grid video call is useful for lots of things, but not everything. There are other options, and in alternatives to grid video calls we go over them in detail. Here we’ll focus on one: 3D spaces with avatars.
What 3D spaces bring
- A sense of place. You walk into a room with a table, chairs, and walls, not a window. It sounds silly, but it changes how the meeting feels.
- No camera. Each person appears as their avatar, with their photo on the face if they want. The pressure about appearance and background goes away.
- Clearer turns. If the space’s camera frames whoever is speaking, it’s easier to follow the conversation.
- Visible reactions. A sustained thumbs-up or an avatar’s laugh helps give feedback without interrupting.
- Personality. Everyone dresses their avatar their own way. That sparks conversation and a little playfulness.
Where they fit best
| Type of meeting | 3D space? |
|---|---|
| No-agenda coffee or team bonding | A great option |
| Small-team retrospective | A good option |
| Conversational brainstorming | A good option |
| Reviewing documents or code | Better a call with screen sharing |
| Meeting with a client unfamiliar with the tool | Think it over first; it can distract |
Limits to keep in mind
A 3D room doesn’t replace every tool. If you need to share your screen to review a file line by line, a classic video call is still more practical. And size matters: in remocast, for example, rooms hold up to six people, which fits small teams or breakout groups from a larger one. Each person joins with a link and their own account, and the host decorates the room: they can put the team’s logo in a wall frame or an image of the project on the TV.
Rules so everyone gets to talk
Whatever the format:
- A rotating moderator. Each week, someone different shares out the floor.
- Rounds in order for important topics. Nobody is left without a say.
- Headphones to avoid echo.
- Mics muted when you’re not talking, especially if there’s noise at home.
- Room for people who think before they speak. Close the round with “anyone who hasn’t spoken want to add something?”
Many of these ideas come from moderating panel discussions. If you want to dig deeper, see how to moderate a panel discussion.
Start small
Don’t change everything at once. Try one idea for a month:
- Week 1: check-in rounds in the weekly meeting.
- Week 2: a no-agenda coffee in a 3D room.
- Week 3: ask the team what they liked and what they didn’t.
- Week 4: keep what worked.
The most human thing is to ask your team. What works for one person doesn’t always work for another.
Want to try a team coffee in a room of your own? Create your studio for free.
Frequently asked questions
Is it mandatory to turn on your camera in remote meetings?
It depends on each team’s culture, but requiring it all the time tends to cause fatigue. An alternative is to save cameras for key moments and use avatars or audio only the rest of the time.
How many people fit in a meeting in a 3D space?
It depends on the tool. For conversations where everyone participates, groups of four to six usually work better than very large rooms.
Do 3D spaces work for formal meetings?
They can, but they shine in conversational, team-bonding, or brainstorming meetings. For reviewing documents in detail or presentations with lots of slides, a call with screen sharing is usually more practical.