Holding More Productive Meetings

How to prevent excessive meetings from slowing your business down

By Matthew Solan, Writer, Solan Freelance Writing

Meetings create a positive atmosphere to generate ideas and relay vital information. But if they are not well run, they can also be an unproductive time drain for you and your employees. If you hold productive meetings, people will be more willing to attend them.

Properly run meetings save time, increase motivation and solve problems.
Productive meetings create new ideas and initiatives.
They improve communication between management and employees.
Meetings defuse conflict in a way that emails and memos cannot.

Prepare an agenda

Decide why you're holding a meeting: to brainstorm, deliver information or gather information. Write an agenda at least one day before the meeting with topics to cover, people responsible for delivering specific information, and allotted timeframe for each item.
Try: Get helpful tips on planning an agenda at Meetingwizard.org. Find ready-made agenda templates at ITtoolkit and Manager Tools.

Get a facilitator

A facilitator is the person who keeps the meeting on track and on topic. He or she is also responsible for preparing and distributing the agenda, as well as ensuring the meeting sticks to outlined topics. Assign your own facilitator or hire a professional.
Try: The International Association of Facilitators can help you find a professional near you. Find other meeting management tips at the PT Company.

Stick to a pre-arranged time schedule and limits

Start your meeting as scheduled and do not take time to help late arrivals catch up. This reinforces people's behavior to arrive on time in the future. A specific ending time supports a timely closure to agenda items. Time limits on agenda items allow the meeting leader to focus the group on accomplishing the meeting's goals.
Try: Discover other meeting tips at Time-Management-Guide.

Assign someone to keep minutes

This keeps attendees from writing points down instead of listening and participating in the meeting. It also ensures everyone has the same written record of the meeting, which reduces confusion about what was covered.
Try: Download a handy meetings-minutes template at Project Connections.

Help make the meeting's message clear with visual aids

Be prepared to write down information for attendees to see and discuss with marker boards, dry erase boards and poster boards.
Try: Find supplies at Dryeraseboard, Mywhiteboards and Office Depot.

Invite the appropriate people. Having the right people at the meeting is essential to ensure topics are covered efficiently and completely.
Sometimes people do not have to be present for the entire meeting. Schedule staggered attendance. This can encourage the best use of everyone's time and move a meeting along in a timely manner.
Designate a timekeeper. Have someone watch the clock so the facilitator can focus on the agenda. This helps to make sure everything is covered equally.
Follow up on tasks assigned during the meeting. End the meeting by reviewing what was discussed and create a task list with responsible people and timelines. This reinforces the meeting's productivity to the attendees.