Meetings are often regarded as a necessary evil. If they are not held, stakeholders complain they were either not informed or not part of the decision making process. But when they are held, they frequently disintegrate into time wasting sessions that leave the participants frustrated and bored.
There are some well documented ways to ensure you do not fall into the trap of holding meetings for the sake of meetings, and that you do keep important meetings on track and focused on outcomes.
Before you start:
Decide if the meeting is really necessary! Sort out in your mind what you hope to accomplish and how you could measure a successful outcome. You might be able to use alternative means to achieve the same results by addressing the issues through other informal means such as emails, or even a chat over lunch or a coffee.
Who should attend?
The required outcome from the meeting should drive the decision about who needs to be in attendance. Ensure you provide a copy of the proposed agenda with the meeting notice. If the meeting is likely to involve a large number of participants, then consider ways to divide them into smaller groups of four to eight people for short periods to discuss set topics. This can be a better way to get individuals to generate new ideas, than expecting them to fight for attention against a large audience.
Remember that physically our bodies start to get restless after 90 minutes of sitting. With this in mind, plan breaks or at least suggest people take a few minutes just to stand up and stretch before continuing the session. Breaks have the useful side effect of allowing people to air issues informally they may not want to raise in the public forum of the meeting.
If your attendees have to travel, consider this when scheduling the start and finish times.
Always have an Agenda
One if the best ways to keep a meeting on target, and ensure no items of business get overlooked, is to create an outline and an agenda. This should be prepared in advance of the meeting. Define key issues, topics and expectations of the meeting in the outline. Schedule the most critical items early in the agenda. It is preferable that those invited to the meeting receive at least a tentative agenda a few days in advance. Make sure extra copies of the agenda are available at the meeting.
Logistics
Particularly for larger group meetings, audiovisual equipment can only enhance your presentation and simplify information that is being presented. However they can also be effective even for small weekly team meetings.
For formal meetings the type of audiovisual equipment required to make presentations needs to be considered in advance as well as the size of room and number of people attending. Check all equipment. It is surprising how often a piece of equipment that worked perfectly well yesterday simply fails to operate when you start your session. One handy hint is to make sure the computers and equipment (projectors, Internet access) are compatible.
At various times there are other issues you might need to consider. These would include proper lighting, size of the room, acoustics, telephone access, temperature, ventilation, comfort and position of seating, writing materials, restrooms, coat racks, parking, name tags, refreshments, extension cords and location of electrical outlets.
It is worth considering your meeting spot. Physical location and surroundings are very important to a productive meeting. Who you are meeting with, for what purpose and how many are likely to attend are the key considerations here.
If you are meeting with clients, a conference room may be ideal. If you are meeting with your staff to brainstorm and share ideas, think about having your meeting at an off-site location. Even an outdoor space may be effective for an informal setting, but consider possible distractions, and whether people need spots to write and make notes.
Beginning the Meeting
Be punctual and take notes. Unless you have a compelling reason, don’t start the meeting late. If people form the impression that your meetings start late, they will have no incentive for arriving on time in the future.
Taping a meeting can assist in preparing summaries later. Or designate a note taker for the session.
The person responsible for the meeting preparation should arrive early and coordinate the setting up. If food and beverages are being served, ensure that all communications with caterers are well planned, and the attendees informed of these arrangements.
Always have water, tea, and coffee available to attendees. These days many people prefer skim milks, decaffeinated coffees, and caffeine free teas such as herbal teas.
In Session Gather Input and Keep Focused
The meeting facilitator is responsible for leading the group and promoting participation. Reaching decisions can be complex and challenging. It is important that participants who wish to speak and express their views have an opportunity to do so. It is also vital to proceed carefully, take note of concerns and opinions, and consider alternatives.
Well conducted meetings allow all participants to be part of the decision making process. Naturally conflict can arise in meeting discussions. Don’t react negatively and regard it as inherently undesirable. If handled sensitively it can lead to innovation, positive change or agreement when discussing an issue.
Agree to Action
If the purpose of the meeting is to resolve an issue, when a decision is make, reinforce the decision by identifying who is responsible for the follow up (often called the champion). Set all deadlines attached to the decision.
Winding Up
Leave 5-10 minutes at the end of the meeting for winding up. Don’t be tempted to skip this portion of the meeting. You should cover:
- Evaluation of the meeting to ensure that objectives have been met;
- Review assignments, and set the time for the next meeting. Ask each person if they can make it or not (ensures their commitment);
- Confirm with participants that meeting minutes and/or actions will be reported back in at most a week (keeps the momentum going).
Always end meetings on time and endeavor to end on an upbeat note.
Don’t forget…..follow up!
Hard as it may be to believe, it is the case that even if you do everything right and then fail to follow up, the meeting will not be a success.
Those who know a little of the psychology of the brain and the way it learns and stores information will see the point. Human minds discard a lot of information every day. If you want to make sure your brain realizes the need to actually store information long term, then you need to reinforce it within a short period after the event.
So send out a summary of ideas and discussion topics that were gathered during your meeting. Prepare a follow up action list and check that all deadlines are being met. Then ACT on the decisions that were made.
People will be prepared to attend your meetings because they will see effective outcomes.
Copyright 2003, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.
Chris’ combination of academic credentials, career experience and temperament ideally suit his calling as a business development advisor. Clients say he has a mind for business and a heart for service.