Maximize Your Meeting with 10 Practical Tips!

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You and I know that the biggest prob­lem of meet­ing is the meet­ing itself.   Let’s admit, how many of us goes to a meet­ing of no nuts of what’s going, how long it’s going to take, who is in the meet­ing, talk about every­thing under the sun BUT comes out of it with a head full of clouds?  What’s more, there are min­utes to set­tle where the scribe have to go around clar­i­fy­ing on the points men­tioned in the meet­ing but none turn out to be accu­rate.  Sounds famil­iar?  Wel­come to the club of the use­less meetings!

How do you get the most out of your meet­ings?  How do you make sure that you get your objec­tive across in the meet­ings and all atten­dees walk out of the meet­ing room with a clear mind?  We’ve got a list for you to achieve this:

  1. meetingCall a meet­ing when it’s nec­es­sary.  Don’t call it just for the sake of call­ing.  Make sure—really sure—that the meet­ing is needed.
  2. Invite only those peo­ple that will get some­thing out of the meet­ing.  This applies to recur­ring meet­ings as well.  Let’s not waste time.  Get peo­ple that will con­tribute or get some­thing out of the meeting!
  3. Have a detailed agenda. A meet­ing that does not have an agenda does not call for a meet­ing.  Set the time limit to each item to keep peo­ple wan­der­ing off the topic.
  4. Sched­ule your meet­ings at least a few days in advance.  This gives peo­ple ample time to pre­pare.  Hastily planned meet­ings are may not yield any output.
  5. Can­cel your meet­ing if you think it’s no longer required.  Never, have a meet­ing just for the sake of hav­ing it.
  6. Start on time.  For­get about the late comers.
  7. Set a time limit. Then think about cut­ting it in half. If you think you want an hour meet­ing, try a half-an-hour.  A longer meet­ing usu­ally end up wast­ing time.  Isn’t it bet­ter to close things in a shorter time?  Some­times half of that is just fine and it can force every­one to get down to business.
  8. Have a leader. Every meet­ing should have a leader who can lead every­one to the dis­cus­sion and keep­ing things on track.
  9. Stick to the agenda. Put a chit-chat ses­sion in the agenda if you want it to be part of the meeting.
  10. End your meet­ing on time. Resist the temp­ta­tion to go over.

These tips apply to most of the meet­ing.  How­ever, there will be excep­tions to it.  At the bottom-line, meet­ings should be held when they are con­struc­tive and make good use of everyone’s time.  Every­one should be well pre­pared in advance to get the best use of their time.

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