I have sat in several meetings over the past few years where I thought “Why am I here? Was the person who called this meeting lonely and in need of attention or did they think they had a point?”As I sat in a recent meeting that was getting way off track, I began to develop a list of basic tips for facilitating a productive meeting.
Tip #1: Set an agenda prior to the meeting with brief bullet points and send it out ahead of time. This lets the participants know what they’re in for.
Tip #2: Limit the amount of attendees. Include the people who have the knowledge and the audience who will get the most out of the discussion.
Tip #3: Refer to Tip #1, follow the agenda during the meeting and stay on track.
Tip #4: Have someone other than the facilitator take meeting minutes. It’s too hard for the person running the meeting to scribe the meeting.
Tip #5: Open the meeting up for discussion, but be ready to reel in people who might go off on tangents.
Tip #6: During the last five minutes of the meeting recap the major discussion points and any action items.
Tip #7: Set a date for the assigned action items to be complete.
Tip #8: Distribute your meeting minutes four to eight business hours after the meeting so the participants can review their follow-up items while the meeting is fresh in their minds.
It isn’t rocket science. Follow these steps and you will have a successful meeting.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Ronit // Mar 11, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Good tips, I should distribute this out to my work, where we have meetings on how to have a meeting. Too bad they can’t follow their own directions.
2 Nathan Bowers // Mar 12, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Tip #9: Keep it under 30 minutes.
Tip #10: Everybody has to leave their Blackberry in their desk.
3 ElaineK // Apr 14, 2008 at 8:49 am
One good thing about standard or weekly meetings– do everyone a favor and cancel them when there is nothing to discuss that week.
4 Albert Gasparini // Apr 14, 2008 at 11:34 am
Great tips, and sintetic as a meeting sould be!
I sugest distribute your meeting agenda four to eight business hours before the meeting, so the participants can review their ideas.
5 Kimberly // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:42 pm
@Nathan Bowers - My project team would struggle with keeping our meetings under 1/2 an hour because we have so many variables that need to be discussed, but when the project slows down in a few weeks we will probably reduce the duration of the meetings.
I completely agree that Blackberries should be left out of a conference room. I get frustrated when people are emailing in the middle of a meeting rather than paying attention.
@ElaineK - I agree. Give everyone their time back if the standing meeting isn’t necessary.
@Albert Gasparini - Giving participants the time to prepare is a great idea. It gives them a chance to put their thoughts together. I try to include a high level agenda in the meeting invitation.
6 Uncle B // Apr 26, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Who decides the points on the agenda and how do we make this fare for all concerned?
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