Musings on Making Meetings Effective

Some thoughts:

1. Have an agenda.  To make the most of your time you and everyone else need to know what you are talking about, why you are talking about it and keep it moving.
2. Move quickly through items that are of no consequence.  Keep the main thing as the main thing.  Allow time to discuss the big items and those things that require more indepth discussion.
3. Set up working groups.  If an item can be discussed at a different time or if the meeting group don't all need to be involved - then establish a working group.  Findings and resolutions can then be fed back to the main group.
4. If there are follow up actions - remind people.  It is good to turn up to a meeting knowing that actions required from the last meeting have been finished off.  Starting a meeting empowered is the best way to finish as well.
5. Start the clock.  Record how much time you spend on each of the agenda items and reflect on which agenda items actually add value and which ones don't.  Then work on reducing or removing those items from future meetings if they aren't required.

QUIT WASTING MY TIME!

Of the 60+ meetings per month attended by professionals, research indicates that over 50 percent of this meeting time is wasted.
That translates to 4 days of lost productivity per professional every month if each meeting is one hour long!
Can you afford not to invest in more effective meetings?
Do the math for yourself. How much could you save with even a 25% improvement in the productivity of your virtual and in-person meetings?
(Original post: http://myriam-musing.blogspot.com/)

Making Meetings Count

There is nothing I abhor more than a meeting with no point or no conclusion by way of future action points.  Often times "meetings" use up valuable time that could be better spent elsewhere.

Here are a few of my ideas about how to have a better quality meeting -

1. Agendas - are for guidance only.  A meeting should not be held to ransom by the agenda.  Ticking boxes or agenda items off for the sake of process is a waste of time.
2. So - try starting with a blank agenda.  Canvas the ideas and issues that are fresh in peoples minds first and deal with those.  5 to 10 minutes per issue. No more than that.  At the end of 10 minutes there should be clear points of responsibility and actions to be taken.
3. Brainstorm with post it notes and blank paper.  Write up the big points of the meeting onto blank sheets of paper and hang them on the wall.  Then meeting attendees can note down their thoughts on any of the points and put their post it on the wall.  This then adds their thoughts and voice to the discussion.  This is particularly helpful for quieter people or if someone misses their chance to speak.

What strategies do you use to improve your meetings?  Here are a few links with some further great ideas for
you to use -

http://www.43folders.com/2006/02/21/meetings, http://www.delalbright.com/Facilitation/meetings.htm, and my personal favorite - http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-run-an-effective-meeting/61211

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tifotter/544669841/)