How to Conduct Effective Meetings

Keep your meetings directed on finding solutions.

Business meetings can be unproductive and very often a waste of time. When nobody is on the same page or when there's no clear agenda, a meeting can turn into a free-for-all in which nothing is decided. An ineffective meeting may even be a cause of more meetings, which take time away from everyone's busy schedule. Conduct a meeting that keeps everyone on task and directed to getting results.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Create an agenda that is focused on outcomes. An outcome based agenda lets the attendees know exactly what is expected of them during the meeting. Meeting attendess know what to expect ahead of time and what they'll need to do to prepare for the meeting. Send the agenda to everyone well in advance of the meeting.

2. Have ground rules for the meeting. Be clear that only one person speaks at a time, comments and questions can be saved for the end of the meeting, people need to discuss the issue at hand and private discussions must not go on during the meeting.

3. Keep the meeting directed on one issue at a time. You don't need to come to quick solutions, but you might choose a tentative solution that can be changed as necessary. Having tentative solutions helps you move on to the next issue so that you're aren't spending too much time on any one problem.

4. Assign people to different roles in the meeting to help move the meeting along. The timekeeper makes sure that everyone stays on task by keeping an eye on the clock. The recorder is in charge of taking notes during the meeting and ensuring that important information, and resolutions are noted and distributed to the entire office.

Tips & Warnings

• Only hold the meeting if it is really necessary. If all of your agenda items are information sharing, perhaps you could send them via email instead.

References

• University of California, Berkeley: Conducting Effective Meetings