Copyright 2006 Deborah Torres Patel
Thorough meeting preparation alleviates anxiety. Good planning guarantees that meetings are relevant, don’t overrun and aren’t held back by uniformed, boring or disinterested attendees. Follow these 19 timeless tips to keep your meetings on track and on time.
When preparing your agenda …
1. Identify the aim of your meeting
2. Put the most important items first
3. Establish a clear outcome for each point
4. Judiciously choose meeting invitees. Ask yourself, “Who should attend?” “Should attendees be present for all or just part of the meeting?”
5. Place controversial points towards the end so the early part of the meeting can flow smoothly
6. If you work for a large organization and not everyone knows each other there may be a need for very short introductions. Schedule time for people to quickly share, “Who I am, my role in the company and why I’m here.”
Distribute a specific agenda at least one week before the meeting. Make sure that everyone attending has all the information they need and that presenters know exactly how much time they are allotted.
When circulating the agenda, state that the meeting will start sharp and end on time. This will subtly set the tone for an efficient meeting. Obviously, it is critical that the meeting chair sticks to the timeline.
The meeting day…
1. Rehearse your presentation (if applicable)
2. Arrive early
3. Double check equipment
4. Serve coffee, tea, water or refreshments before a 30-60 minute meeting. Any meeting longer than 30 minutes should have drinks available throughout.
5. If it’s an important meeting, bring a colleague with you to take notes so you can concentrate on the meeting. A discreet alternative is to record the meeting if there are no objections from attendees.
6. Avoid giving all handouts at the beginning because people often leaf through the paperwork instead of being attentive.
Unfortunately, well-planned meetings can be derailed by meeting participants. If you have an assertive meeting chair, s/he can easily get the meeting back on track. However, anyone can step in if they have confidence or organizational clout.
7. An upright and open posture is commanding. You can change the volume, pitch, speed or tone of your voice to keep people’s interest and engage them by simply leaning forward.
8. Monitoring other people’s body language can keep you on top of the meeting. Involve slouching or disinterested people by asking for their opinions.
9. When it is your turn to present, remind others that your aim is to keep the meeting as short as possible. Your intention can motivate others to do the same.
10. If speakers are long-winded or have a personal agenda, you can take control assuming a moderator’s role with a few well-placed interruptions like, “May we address the next item on our agenda?” or “Would it be possible for us to go over the details later? Or “Can we discuss the specifics offline?”
11. Suggest a short toilet break to stretch if the meeting is dragging.
12. If an argument or unresolved item prolongs a meeting, call the formal part of the meeting to an end and organize a separate meeting to address the issue.
13. Before ending the meeting, solidify specific task ownership and action items.
To ensure your valuable time isn’t usurped by an endless meeting, communicate in advance that you are only available for the scheduled meeting time and politely excuse yourself if the meeting runs overtime. It is your right to leave.
Start and end your own meetings on time and develop a reputation for short, well-organized gatherings. Your colleagues will respect you and contribute much more when they feel you value their time.
19 Timeless Tips to Keep Meetings Short
Are Your Meetings Like This
It's true.
Ducks hold meetings in the park. And they are remarkably similar to business meetings (held in conference rooms, for example).
Here's what happens.
1) No one pays attention to anyone.
Every duck is looking in a different direction. Most don't even appear to be part of the meeting. And none of them are watching the duck who is quacking. But they are all there because ducks have to know about everything that is happening in the park.
2) Ducks deliver lengthy monologues.
Expect to hear: "Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack." Sure, this may last only half a minute but that's a long time for a duck with an attention span of five seconds. It's useful, however, because during this monologue the other ducks forget what they were going to say. So they begin quacking about something else.
3) More than one duck quacks at the same time.
Research on duck social dynamics has shown that this occurs because a) none of the ducks pay attention to the quacker, b) none of the ducks care about what the quacker is quacking, and c) none of the ducks have manners.
4) The meeting seems to lack organization.
Careful observation will show that the meeting has absolutely no structure. This occurs because the ducks have no goal or agenda. As a result, ducks never know when a meeting has ended.
5) Ducks come and go throughout the meeting.
Since nothing is being accomplished, it doesn't matter when you arrive or leave. Some ducks simply walk through a meeting while offering a few thoughtful quacks.
6) No one seems to be in control.
Without a goal or an agenda, any duck can run the meeting. And they do. Sometimes the duck who started the meeting has left to attend another meeting. But the rest of the ducks remain, quacking away.
7) There are no minutes.
Here the ducks show unexpected wisdom. Since they accomplish nothing, there is no reason to write about it.
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12 New Tips for Effective Meetings
1) Ask everyone to arrive five to ten minutes early. This gives everyone time to socialize, obtain coffee, or organize materials before the meeting. It also ensures that everyone is present at the scheduled starting time. Make this part of the agenda.
2) Discuss sensitive issues with the key participants before the meeting. Use this as an opportunity to listen and gather information on the issues. From this you will understand the different views, needs, and histories. This information can help you prepare the agenda and conduct the meeting. In addition, you may be able to facilitate solutions or strategies for solutions before the meeting. In either case, the result will be a more efficient meeting.
3) Plan small meetings that focus on a single issue. People work more effectively over short periods of time (such as 45 minutes). This also allows you to match experts with issues for more productive meetings.
4) Only invite those who can contribute to at least 50% of the items on the agenda. For meetings lasting more than 30 minutes, invite special participants only to the part of the meeting that deals with their contribution.
5) Send copies of the minutes to everyone who could have been invited for informational purposes. They can read the minutes in a small fraction of the time that they would have been spent in the meeting.
6) When invited to a meeting with a vague (or missing) agenda, ask: what role will I have? Why do you need me? If your impact is minor, refuse to attend and use the time for other work. Meeting planners often attempt to add importance to a meeting by inviting prominent members of the organization.
7) If the chairperson seems to have allowed the meeting’s intent to drift, ask: “What do you want to achieve?” or “How can we help you?” or “How will we know when we are done working on this?” These questions can help focus the meeting on a goal.
8) If a meeting seems out of control, suggest adjourning and reconvening at a later time. This will allow you to clarify goals, prepare strategies, and better understand the issues.
9) Reflect the content of key points. This ensures that everyone has the same understanding of the key point. Although this is one of the chairperson’s responsibilities, it can be filled by anyone else in the meeting.
10) Prepare a list of questions, ideas, suggestions before the meeting. Then you can focus your attention on the discussion in the meeting.
11) Watch the listeners instead of the speaker. Their faces and body language will tell you whether they agree or disagree, which can help guide you participation in the discussion.
12) Work with a sense of appropriate urgency. Life is finite, and the discussions in meetings should be the same. Plan a time budget and then use it to guide your meeting. Spend extra time only when an issue warrants it.
10 Characteristics of Effective Meetings
Here are ten fundamental concepts that characterize an effective meeting.
1) Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.
2) A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterized by focus, governed by structure, and controlled by a budget.
3) Short meetings free people to work on the essential activities that represent the core of their jobs. In contrast, long meetings prevent people from working on critical tasks such as planning, communicating, and learning.
4) Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriate process, and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these to create an effective meeting.
5) Effective meetings require sharing control and making commitments.
6) The ultimate goals of every meeting are agreements, decisions, or solutions. Meetings held for other reasons seldom produce anything of value.
7) Unprepared participants will spend their time in the meeting preparing for the meeting.
8) It is better to spend a little time preparing for solutions than to spend a lot of time fixing problems.
9) Meetings are an investment of resources and time that should earn a profit.
10) A meeting can be led from any chair in the room. And if it’s your meeting, you want it to be your chair.