Date Published: December 16, 2015

Teams cannot survive without meetings. Projects will need thorough evaluation at regular intervals to ensure things go according to schedule.

The primary role played by meetings is to help employees connect with each other. They get to know who is doing what in the team and how far they are from reaching the collective goal. The average employee attends somewhere between 8 to 10 meetings in a week. Some of these meetings are short while others go on for hours.

What kind of meetings do you hold? Are they long and boring? Or are they short and productive?

It’s a fact that most employees find meetings boring and a chore to sit through. They feel that meetings affect their productivity levels, especially if they have nothing to contribute. The goal of a meeting should be to engage with every attendee, making them feel special and wanted.

A meeting featuring an uninterested employee is bad because he begins to release negative vibes that spread across the room. This article will focus on helping you ensure meetings are effective and meaningful to attendees.

1. Never conduct a meeting on short notice

Send out meeting invites days in advance so that potential attendees don’t get inconvenienced. This cannot be done in the case of meetings that are called to discuss an urgent task. Every meeting should be treated differently and according to the need of the hour.

2. Believe in the power of agendas!

I have noticed that a lot of employees are clueless about what the meeting is exactly about. They know that the meeting is called to support a project but are not sure what the topic of discussion will be.

This results in attendees who are not prepared to contribute. They sit in, listen to what is discussed and then ask for more time to present their thoughts. Another meeting is called for this purpose. It’s a cycle that goes on and on.

This situation can be resolved by preparing an agenda and sending it out well in advance before the meeting. The agenda should explain in detail the goal of the meeting and the points to be discussed.

3. Ensure meetings start on time!

It’s important that meetings start on time. This shows that you value the time of every person in attendance. You don’t have to wait for latecomers to start the meeting, especially if you sent out agendas with the meeting time well in advance.

4. Don’t crowd the meeting with too many people

Restrict the number of attendees to between 5 and 8. This ensures that each attendee can share their points in a productive manner. A crowded room or a meeting with too many attendees isn’t a good sign – there are chances that a lot of people will want to share their opinion at the same time.

5. Invite only the right people for the meeting

A lot of meetings have people who really don’t have much to do. It’s important that only people with a clear role in the proceedings are invited.

6. Keep meetings short

Each meeting is held to serve a specific purpose. There is no rule about how long a meeting should be. Keep them short and ideally to a length of 30 minutes. Anything above that may see attendees losing interest, especially if the meeting is boring to start with.

7. Liven up the meeting!

Add a Q&A session or change your presentation style. Make sure you introduce variations in presentation style to surprise attendees. These variations will ensure your meetings are looked forward to with interest.

Let your meeting set a benchmark for others to follow.

8. Use attractive visuals and content

An attractive presentation will help to get your message across in quick time. Spend time in creating the right presentation. Add facts and other project data to help you make the right impact.

9. Make sure to engage with every attendee

All-round interaction is a must to receive quality input from every attendee. Your agenda should highlight the role played by each attendee – you should make sure they share their input during the meeting.
Don’t let any attendee leave the meeting without sharing their thoughts on the topic at hand!

10. Don’t ignore off-topic questions raised by attendees

Attendees may ask some questions that have nothing to do with the agenda of the meeting. Ensure these off-topic questions are attended to at the end of the meeting, either privately or in front of everyone. It shows that you care about all kinds of questions raised at meetings.

11. End the meeting with an agreement over future action

The meeting should result in a positive outcome that can be pursued. Assign attendees tasks. Do a recap of the major points discussed and ensure task owners are clear with their roles. There should be no confusion till the next meeting.

Did you find these tips useful? Make sure you incorporate them to hold the perfect meetings at the office! These tips will help you save time and boost productivity. Team members will have a clearer understanding of what is expected of them.

You should also consider giving away custom coffee mugs to highlight your team’s message on their desks. These quality mugs can endear themselves to employees, ensuring they are a prominent feature at meetings as well!

About Author:
 
Gary Taylr is a marketing consultant and works with the creative team to boost sales. He is a regular participant in discussions related to business and marketing. He loves exchanging ideas and connecting with like-minded people. Gary can be followed on Google+ and Twitter.