Meetings are essential in business. You can use them to communicate and pass or exchange relevant information. Alternatively, you can use meetings to review progress. As such, it’d be best to ensure all meetings achieve their main target.
You’d want to make the meeting exciting and valuable to the attendees. Otherwise, everyone will leave the session feeling it was a waste of time. To avoid such occurrences, below are some insights that you may want to implement to make in-person meetings successful:
1. Have An Agenda
An agenda defines the purpose of the meeting. You can’t hold a successful meeting if you don’t have an agenda. First, you must notify the attendees of why you’re calling them together. On this account, you can write a short memo elaborating on what you intend to discuss at the meeting. Remember to include the names of the people expected to present something during the meeting. Then, send it to the invited persons a day or two before the meeting. It helps the key speakers prepare in advance, hence saving on time.
2. Organize Your Meeting Venue
As you inform attendants of the meeting, state the venue and time. The last thing you want is to have people all over wondering what room they should be in. If you have remote workers and you choose to take the meeting outside the workplace, ensure you state where you intend to hold the meeting. For instance, you can choose to have the meeting in a boardroom for hire. Thus, you’ll need to communicate the exact location to the attendees. On the same thought, you must prepare the meeting room earlier. Ensure you arrange the seating area appropriately before the start time. You should also ensure there’s enough room for everyone attending. If you’re expecting a larger group or a special occasion, renting an event space can offer more flexibility and comfort for your meeting.
3. Start With Essential Items First
You should start the meeting on a high note. Before getting into the meat of the matter, you can break the ice with a recap of the last meeting. The secretary can read the previous meeting’s minutes. Then, dive into top issues straight away. This way, even if you run out of time, you’ll have discussed essential items of the day.
On the other hand, concentration is high during the first few minutes of the meeting. As such, it’d be important to handle the weighty matters first.
4. Keep Time
If you want to have a fulfilling meeting, it’s important to keep time. If everyone keeps time, you’ll be able to finish on time. Allocate a few minutes to the speakers and avoid diverting from the topic.
You should also not wait for the latecomers. If it’s time for the meeting, start with those present. You might end up wasting ten minutes for a thirty-minute meeting waiting for someone, and they completely fail to show up. Again, wrap up the meeting a few minutes before time. This way, you’ll be able to address other concerns and share final thoughts before the attendees start becoming restless. If you plan to have another meeting in the future, you can communicate that before the attendants leave.
5. Write Short Notes
As the meeting goes on, it’s important to have someone take down the notes. You can hardly remember everything that was said in the meeting. The short notes will help you remember what was discussed. They act as the reference for the meeting.
On the same note, delegate the duty to someone else. You can have a facilitator and a note-taker. Thus, have two people because multitasking may not be possible. The whole point is to keep the meeting moving fast and save time.
6. Keep The Numbers Tight
Bringing the whole department to the boardroom won’t only waste time but also drag the meeting. Thus, limiting the number of attendants ensures the meeting is essential. For everyone to take part in a meeting with a large number of attendants, you have to schedule a lot of time for the meeting. And at the end of the day, the meeting might not achieve its goals.
You can use some strategies to come up with the list of attendants. For instance, if it’s a status update meeting, you can take a representative from every team in the organization.
7. Encourage Participation
An efficient meeting is one where everyone takes part. Ensure you engage every department by asking relevant questions. As you pick the agenda, you can also touch on every department. This way, everyone attending the meeting will have something to contribute. If you don’t do so, the meeting becomes a single show which could be boring for the other attendees. As such, ensure you raise issues that affect everyone attending the meeting to engage your audience.
Conclusion
A successful meeting can be measured by some key factors. You can also tell how effective a meeting was from the start to the end. Therefore, it’s essential to incorporate the suggested tips above when holding a meeting. You can involve the attendants by asking questions to make the meeting engaging. Such measures ensure the meeting isn’t boring. Most importantly, communicate in advance about the meeting so they can prepare adequately. Remember, if you want effective results, you must be good at meetings.