The COVID19 pandemic pushed us all forward into a world of virtual work and teams. However, humanity craves deeper relationships than that which is typically achieved during a Zoom call. Rituals for Virtual Meetings will help you unlock how virtual interactions work, and how to build, grow, and sustain meaningful relationships at work (and beyond) in an increasingly online world. This book is structured around the life cycle of a relationship: from introductions to working together to navigating difficult interactions. The book showcases behavioral strategies of virtual habits, norms, and rituals, collected from a diverse set of companies and communities. Rituals for Virtual Meetings reveals surprising insights -- unveiling connections from gaming communities to stand-up comedy, moviemaking to behavioral science.

Rituals for Virtual Meetings will help managers with direct reports in distributed locations build trust and rapport amongst team members. Employees will learn to facilitate better interactions with project partners and customers. Community leaders can use Virtual Rituals to activate an increasingly virtual member base. Teachers juggling virtual and in-person instruction can implement the strategies in this book to create a healthy community in uncertain times. Leaders and team members of all kinds need Rituals for Virtual Meetings to thrive in our evolving world.

KÜRṢAT ÖZENÇ is a designer, educator, and author. He is a design director at SAP Labs Palo Alto. He teaches design at the Stanford d.school and leads the Ritual Design Lab, where he runs experiments with students and partner organizations on personal, team and human-robot rituals. His work on rituals has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Fast Company, 99U, and Canadian Public Radio. He published his first book Rituals For Work in 2019. He holds a PhD in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

GLENN FAJARDO is a Lecturer at the Stanford d.school and was the d.school's Distributed Learning Teaching Fellow in 2020. He has been a student of virtual collaboration since 2008, working with people and organizations across six continents engaged in social impact work. Glenn was formerly the Director of the Co-Design Practice at TechSoup, a global nonprofit, and is trained in nuclear engineering sciences and public policy.

PART ONE How Rituals Make Virtual Meetings More

Engaging, Productive, and Meaningful

1 The Power of Rituals in Transforming Virtual Meetings 1

2 Meetings as Moments to Be Elevated and Nurtured 17

3 The Secret Science of Virtual Meetings 40

PART TWO Rituals for Virtual Meetings

4 Rituals for Beginning, and Ending a Meeting with Engagement 57

5 Rituals for Focus, Engagement, and Flow 88

6 Rituals for Resilience and Rejuvenation 120

7 Rituals for Creating Connection and Building Relationships 150

8 Rituals for 1-1 Meetings 184

9 Rituals for Transitions and Shifting Culture 212

PART THREE Beyond the “Office”

10 Rituals for Teaching and Training Online 245

11 Rituals for Social Gatherings 276

References 307

Acknowledgments 313

Authors 315

Index 317