Embed a timer onto a video conference tiled screen. Good or bad?

Necessity means that knowledge workers are taking part in more video conference calls than ever before. Most video conferences are tiled to some degree. On screen you can see some or all of those on the video call. Nowhere though can you see a timer or a clock.

An optional feature for video conference apps would be to allow meeting organisers too embed a timer directly onto the video conference tiled screen. Set it to thirty minutes, so everyone can see the time ticking away.

What affect would this have?

• Focus attention on the need for brevity from those making contributions
• Add focus to the meeting agenda rather than allowing the call to drift
• Save time. To allow people can get on with other tasks.

The sight of a timer ticking down the minutes embedded on a tiled video conference call has its downsides.

• Pressure. Contributors rushing out what they have to say or not getting the opportunity to say anything at all. Good chairing would guard against that happening.
• Wellbeing. The pressure of a timer ticking away may focus attention but risks leaving no room for the general chat about non work stuff. Which is so important in these strange times no matter how important the topic of the video call is.

Bottom line is that who ever is chairing decides whether to embed a timer on the video conference call or not. They could choose to add an additional ten minutes to extend the meeting or to just have a chat. As organisations embrace video conferencing from necessity there are many more meetings. The idea of embedding timer within a tiled screen of a video conference call may indeed be unwelcome. However it could be an optional feature. Used only if could add benefit the video conference call.

Is this a feature you would like added to popular video conferencing tools? Is it already a feature of some of these tools?