Over the last few months, I have been asked to run a number of workshops to help people focus on planning effective meetings taking into consideration the audience and the agenda as well as the role of the chair person and the minute taker.

Of course this made me think about all the meetings I have attended over the years.  I’m sure we’ve all been to meetings that have been well organised, run to time and achieved the relevant outcomes, but I think we’ve probably attended more where the opposite has been the case.   How many times have you left a meeting thinking it was an utter waste of your time, experienced, sloppy chairmanship, sat around the table with attendees who don’t really know why they’re there, no clear agenda … and the worst of all, no clear outcome at the end!

So I started to do my research and came across some horrifying facts:

With this in mind I thought I’d share some of my workshop hints and tips with you and use this month’s newsletter to spread the word on ‘M is for Meeting Management!’  Here are my top 12.

1.  Don’t hold a meeting for the sake of it – people’s time is precious so make sure that time taken to get together is adding value.  The main aim of a meeting is to achieve objectives, take up minimum time and everyone to leave feeling a sensible process has been followed.  Hold stand up meetings.  They very rarely overrun as no-one likes to stand around listening to waffle!

2.  Prepare an agenda – Don’t cram too much into the agenda so that you have to skim every item.  Put the most pressing issues at the beginning so that if you do run out of time, you don’t have the important matters outstanding.  Vary the pace dependant on the time of the day eg straight after lunch is notorious for being the time when we feel most lethargic.  If you feel it is necessary, circulate the agenda prior to the meeting to ask for any additional items.

3.  Invite the right people – Think clearly about who you want to attend and why you want them to be there.  To make it easier for your invitees to decide whether they should accept the invitation, add an agenda with some desired outcomes to the calendar invite.  This will help them to understand what is expected of them in the meeting eg to gather information, provide assistance, take responsibility for certain work and decide whether they can add value.

4. Arrive early and be prepared with the relevant paperwork – This sends a message to everyone else that you are organised and taking control of the meeting.  You can also choose where you want to sit!

5. Start your meetings on time – there’s nothing more annoying than arriving early and then the meeting starting late due to someone not been there on time.   If your meetings achieve their goals and start on time without recapping information, people will soon get the message that you’re focused on quality and respect for everyone so arrive for the start of them!

6.  Create some ground rules – I wrote about the importance of ground rules earlier in the year as I find this a great way to keep people on track.  Whether it’s people I’ve worked with before or those who I’m new to working with, getting them to set their own ground rules helps them to remain focused on outcomes and is easy to go back to if people start to go astray.  One key ground rule to have in meetings is to ensure one person speaks at a time.  It’s very distracting when people start mini conversations or start talking over one another, plus it’s really difficult for the person taking the minutes to capture the relevant detail.

7.  Follow the agenda – It might seem like a strange hint, but I’ve attended so many meetings where the chair-person allows people to jump from one agenda item to another without addressing the points fully.  Go through each agenda point in turn, summarising after each item to make sure that everyone has the same understanding of the outcomes, actions and responsibilities.  (This is also clarifies the point for the minute taker).  When you’re setting your agenda, have in mind how long each item is going to take so that you can make alternative arrangements for any point that is taking much longer than anticipated – it may be necessary for an additional meeting to take place, with some or all of the group, to discuss that specific point.

8.  As an attendee, come along prepared – bring along whatever information you think is needed.  It’s so much better to have it to hand rather than be working from ‘gut feel’ or guess work on the day.  And if you think it would help others, perhaps you should ask the chair person if you can get it circulated prior to the meeting taking place.

9.  Deal with those who try to monopolise or derail the meeting – this is where your ground rules come in handy.  Otherwise, acknowledge what is happening and point out that there is an agenda with a lot of material to cover in a specified timescale.  Make sure that everyone gets their turn to be heard but not at the expense of achieving the meeting outcomes.   Be careful that you don’t fall into the trap of taking yourself a bit too seriously when confronted with challenging personalities.  Try to keep a sense of humour – it may be all that is required to add some lightness to the situation and keep everyone on track.

10.  Don’t let your meetings overrun – when I was working in Doha last year, the project manager had this amazing egg timer that was used for every meeting.  As soon as you went into a meeting with him, he turned it over.  All meetings lasted no longer than 60 minutes. If you were half way through explaining something as the last grain of sand dropped through, it was tough luck, the meeting was over!

11.  Finish every meeting with a summary and expectation – use the last five minutes of your meeting to conclude the meeting properly.  Thank everyone for their contributions and arrange the next meeting – it’s often easier when everyone is around the table to sort out dates.

12.  Send out minutes soon after the meeting – Make sure that minutes of meetings are sent out within 48 hours of the meeting.  Any longer than this and attendee’s focus on their actions will have diminished.  Make them easy to read and understand so that those who couldn’t attend can easily catch up on what they missed.  Have clarity on actions, responsibilities and timescales for action.  And if you have any actions, be a good role model and get them completed on time.

So there you have it, my top 12.  I hope you find them helpful in organising your meetings in the future and stop the following facts coming to life for your meetings!!  And remember if you require any more help, we do run half day workshops on this subject.