10 tips for productive meetings

I can think of very few people who consider meetings a positive item in their work day. Meetings can be very productive, it’s just we have chosen to let them control us instead of the other way around. Here are 10 tips to help you manage meetings better.

1. Be on time

Nothing interrupts the flow of a meeting like when someone shows up late and they have to be caught up. Respect everyone else’s time and be there at on time.

2. Allow time between meetings.

If you have two meetings that follow each other you have to allow for time to travel between the two meetings.  A good idea is to have meetings or 25 or 50 min in length instead of 30 min or 1 hour.

3. Have an agenda.

A meeting should have a purpose, at the end of the meeting everyone should know what the next actions or actions should be. An agenda will help with this. I have worked in places where no agenda means no meeting. If the first thing someone says at a meeting is “Why are we here” then there is a problem.

4. Try and keep it short and to the point.

Everyones time is valuable. Some things you can do is to try standing instead of sitting if the meeting is to be short. This will help keep the flow moving. If a conversation is going off topic, then it should be brought back into the topic that was on the agenda.

5. If there is to be a followup meeting, arrange the time before the meeting ends.

That can often help make the task of getting everyone to agree on the next meeting time easier.

6. Be faithful to your calendar.

This means making sure your calendar is up to date with what commitments you already have. People will often use software to find an open time for everyone based on what is already booked. Having to suggest a alternate meeting time because you forgot to put an previous commitment is embarrassing and counter productive.

7. Make sure the resources are booked.

If you are booking the meeting, ensure you have also booked the various resources (meeting rooms, projector) etc. well in advance.

8. Schedule adequate time for the meeting.

If every other meeting on a particular subject or with the same group has always taken 45 min, then don’t continue to book 30 min for the meeting. Adjust to what reality is.

9. Respect the next people to use the room.

If your meeting goes overtime then respect the next group that has the room booked. Usually you will know at least 10 min before the end of the scheduled completion time. This is the time to stop and decide whether to stop and continue another time, or see if you can make arrangements to move to another room.

10. Review your notes.

When you are done it’s worth spending several minutes going over your notes from the meeting an capturing any relevant items or to-do’s into your system to be processed.

With these 10 tips you should find the time spent in meetings can be more productive. Do you have any other tips?  Leave a comment and tell us.