How to Practice Meeting Etiquette to Participate Effectively
Everyone in business needs to understand meeting etiquette is an important part of business communications. There is a growing need to follow proper procedures for professional conduct in them. Bad meetings reflect on everyone's ability to conduct professional group communications and have an adverse influence on group problem solving.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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1
Start the meeting on time and do not run past the communicated stop time as this indicates a lack of respect for other's time. All attendees should be punctual. It is ok for you to arrive early, but never to be late. Keeping people waiting is rude and it should not be expected that they will wait to begin once everyone arrives.
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2
Arrange to attend the entire meeting time. Going in and out during meetings is disruptive and can throw off the flow of the meeting for others. If you are leaving early or going to arrive late, ask the meeting leaders permission to do so before the meeting begins so they can rearrange the agenda if necessary.
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3
Make everyone aware of the meeting purpose and agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Put this on meeting reminders and go over it with everyone at the meeting to insure all agree. Once everyone is in agreement, it is easier to follow the agenda and stick to time limits.
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4
Assign a meeting recorder to document decisions and actions. Having a recorder will not only insure completion of actions outside the meeting, their visible records in the meeting can help to keep group focused. You should consider having the recorder role rotated among membership if there are to be a series of meetings.
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5
Regarding electronic devices, everyone should agree to turn off phones and pagers. Some people will find this impossible. For those people, you should ask they at least set it to vibrate in their pockets. Ask anyone who keeps them on vibrate to leave the room if they feel they must respond to a call so the meeting is not interrupted by their conversation.
Also, do not turn on laptop (or PDA) unless it is to be used it for a short time to present information to the group. Using this equipment often prevents attendees from paying attention to the meeting and is considered rude by others in the meeting as it gives the impression that the meeting topic is not important.
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6
Everyone should actively participate in discussion, idea generation, and problem solving. You all need to respect the purpose for the meeting by making sure what you say is relevant to meeting and be brief.
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7
Wait your turn to talk and do not interrupt anyone who is speaking. Be polite and pay attention, as good listening skills are important to increase communication and understanding. Show respect by remembering only one person at a time talks, so take turns.
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8
Never carry on multiple conversations during meeting discussion or presentations. Having multiple conversations is not only rude, but it can be both confusing and distracting to other meeting attendees.
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9
Properly honor your presenters by making them aware or their time slot and what is expected during that time. They should arrive early and be prepared with any reports or visuals. During presentations, hold questions and comments until the end and keep questions brief.
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10
At the end of the meeting, summarize what was accomplished, review and assign actions, and then plan any necessary follow-up. Also be sure that you thank the group for their time before everyone leaves.
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