Professionals everywhere are destined to participate in meetings at one time or another, whether they be with coworkers, clients or associates. But many organizations go overboard. The truth is, meetings can be streamlined to ensure productivity.
In a recent Entrepreneur.com article, author and entrepreneur Craig Concotta shares “6 Ways to Make Sure Every Meeting is a Productive One.” Here we share 4 of his suggestions that could streamline meetings while simultaneously increasing efficiency:
1. Set and send the agenda in advance. A meeting agenda provides attendees with a list of topics to cover and objectives to accomplish. Distribute the agenda before the meeting so that attendees can prepare for the meeting and their participation beforehand.
2. Start your meeting on time. Most people dread meetings because they are not run effectively. When meetings don’t start on time, they usually don’t end on time either, and that can throw off a professional’s entire day. Ensuring that your meetings always start when they’re supposed to demonstrates respect for everyone’s time.
3. Make sure the right people are in the right meetings. Sometimes meetings become drawn out when too many individuals have been invited. Suddenly you have a handful of people submitting input and feedback when it’s not their place. Only invite those who are crucial to the agenda, and send a follow-up memo to everyone that should remain in the information loop.
4. Meetings should be the right length. Concotta suggests, “I have always felt that a great meeting should be as long or as short as it needs to be. If you are good about setting an agenda with clear outcomes you will know when a meeting needs to end. If you can get done in 28 minutes when you thought you needed 60 minutes, fantastic.”
Meetings can be a valuable resource that provides you with crucial information that can propel your practice forward. However, that can only happen when your meetings are effective. Applying the above tips will enable you to cut back on unnecessary meetings while ensuring that those meetings that remain are more productive.
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Resource
Cincotta, Craig. “6 Ways to Make Sure Every Meeting is a Productive One.” 11 February 2015 Entrepreneur.com
