As many know I hate meetings. Most are unnecessary and poorly run. But not always. Sometimes they’re necessary. And beneficial. Having been a member of multiple teams, organizations, and business opportunities I’ve had my fair share. Here’s the commonalities between the effective ones:
- Have a purpose. If you don’t have one don’t have a meeting just for the sake of having a meeting.
- Have an agenda. The best meetings I’ve ever been a part of had a bullet pointed agenda given to participants before the meeting.
- Set a time limit. Make it a short one. It forces people to stay on track. Set time limits for the bullet points mentioned above….it forces you to stay on track. If you can’t address everything at that time re-adress at a later time or build in an overflow time.
- Designate a leader.
- Take notes. Mental are good. Written are better. Consider designating a note taker.
- Do them as little as possible. Spending a ton of time in meetings turns the best laid intentions in to noise.