How to Prepare for a Meeting

Meetings that generate more hot air than meaningful decisions are the
businessperson's bane. The culprit is often poor planning. Do your
groundwork to set up an effective meeting.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Clarify the purpose of the meeting. If you can't figure out what you need to accomplish, you shouldn't be calling a meeting.

2. Prepare an agenda with the focus stated in a single sentence at the top. If someone else is preparing the agenda, contact him or her to add your topics. A first-rate agenda includes not only discussion topics and their time allotments, but also the names of attendees; the location, date and time; and a list of any background material attendees need to bring with them. Circulate the agenda in advance.

3. Make it clear that the meeting will start precisely on time. Establish a reputation as someone whose meetings begin (and end) as scheduled. People will respect you for it.

4. Appoint someone to document a record of decisions made, action items assigned and follow-up strategies agreed upon. Promptly distribute a copy to all attendees.

5. Leave time at the end of the agenda to evaluate the meeting: Did you achieve the objective stated at the start? How can you improve future meetings on this topic?

Tips & Warnings

• Limit the number of attendees. "A meeting called to make a specific decision is hard to keep moving if more than six or seven people attend," writes Andrew Grove in High Output Management.
• If the meeting is likely to be contentious, consider inviting a neutral facilitator to attend.
• Resolve to shepherd the discussion back on track when it wanders, and politely but firmly shut off side conversations.
• Prepare visual aids, but don't drown attendees in slides or flip-chart pages.

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