Whether we’d like to admit it or not, meetings are a fact of work life. When conducted consciously, they can be a highly effective tool for sharing ideas or making decisions. Unfortunately too many of us have experienced “bad” meetings, the kind that turn into a laundry list of status updates rather than a productive meeting of the minds. So what’s a team to do when the best way for them to align is to meet in real time?

Meetings are ubiquitous across companies of all shapes and sizes, and it takes a conscious effort to ensure they’re actionable and productive, rather than a laundry list of status updates. As teams around the world have transitioned to fully remote-work, many have had to completely rethink their meeting practices, including everything from content to cadence.

If you’ve ever opened up a meeting invite and thought “Oh no… not one of those again”, this article is for you. And you’re not alone! While the types of meetings you’ll find at any given organization will vary, a few of the most common types are universally loathed. Others types of meetings, however, are genuinely useful and can even be a lot of fun (if you know how to do them right).

Remote meetings have become an essential part of a workflow, or even the only way of communication in various teams across the globe. Thomas Oppong, Founding Editor at ALLTOPSTARTUPS pointed to a shift in remote working as one of 7 key business trends for 2016, because even “larger companies have been embracing remote workers, at least partially, including powerhouses like Apple, Amazon, Dell, Intuit and IBM”.