6 Ways to Make Meetings More Effective

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Meetings are a must in the corporate world. But in too many offices, meetings have become notorious time-wasters. We’ve all been there: you go to a meeting with no clear objective, the discussion goes off topic and, at the end, you haven’t accomplished anything.

If this sounds familiar, there are steps you can take to make your meetings more effective:

Spend ample time on the agenda

Many meetings fail to accomplish anything because they lack an agenda. Attendees come in with only a vague idea of what will be covered, discussions go off topic, and when its over you’re right where you started. To combat this, spend a significant amount of time on your meeting agenda. Outline exactly what will be covered. If the discussion veers away from the agenda, it’s your job to get things back on track.

Start on time — no matter what

Too often, meeting time is wasted waiting on people to show up. This prolongs the meeting and is unfair to the punctual people who showed up on time. If you are constantly tolerating latecomers, you are creating a culture that forgives tardiness and people will continue to show up late. To combat the habitually late, you need to start on time, every time, no matter what. And make no attempt to catch people up on what they missed. People will quickly catch on and begin to show up on time.

Have a stand-up meeting

A stand-up meeting is exactly what it sounds like — a meeting in which everyone stands instead of sitting. Multiple studies have shown that stand-up meetings go faster than traditional sit-down meetings. The discomfort of standing for long periods pushes people to make decisions quickly, making your meeting that more effective.

Take your meeting out of the office

Regular meetings can get monotonous. To change things up, consider taking it outside of the office. The change of scenery is a great way to spark creativity and innovation. By changing up the routine, your team will be more likely to think outside the box.

Share the meeting agenda

Prior to your meeting, share the agenda with attendees. Since they know what will be covered in the meeting, your meeting attendees will come more prepared and waste less time. This will also give people a chance to add or remove meeting topics ahead of time, making your meeting that more efficient.

Establish meeting end goal

The main reason so many meetings fail is because they lack a defined objective. Before the meeting, establish whether the meeting will simply be a discussion, or if there needs to be a decision made by the end. Let your attendees know what the goal will be.

 

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