12 Tips To Improve Your Meetings
have written about meetings before, and how to improve the quality of them. In this article you’ll get twelve tips that will make you not only look like a leader, but to act like one.
1) Ask everyone to arrive five to ten minutes early. This gives everyone time to socialize, obtain coffee, or organize materials before the meeting. It also ensures that everyone is present at the scheduled starting time. Make this part of the agenda.
2) Discuss sensitive issues with the key participants before the meeting. Use this as an opportunity to listen and gather information on the issues. From this you will understand the different views, needs, and histories. This information can help you prepare the agenda and conduct the meeting. In addition, you may be able to facilitate solutions or strategies for solutions before the meeting. In either case, the result will be a more efficient meeting.
3) Plan small meetings that focus on a single issue. People work more effectively over short periods of time (such as 45 minutes). This also allows you to match experts with issues for more productive meetings.
4) Only invite those who can contribute to at least 50% of the items on the agenda. For meetings lasting more than 30 minutes, invite special participants only to the part of the meeting that deals with their contribution.
5) Send copies of the minutes to everyone who could have been invited for informational purposes. They can read the minutes in a small fraction of the time that they would have been spent in the meeting.
6) When invited to a meeting with a vague (or missing) agenda, ask: what role will I have? Why do you need me? If your impact is minor, refuse to attend and use the time for other work. Meeting planners often attempt to add importance to a meeting by inviting prominent members of the organization.
7) If the chairperson seems to have allowed the meeting’s intent to drift, ask: “ What do you want to achieve ?” or “How can we help you?” or “How will we know when we are done working on this?” These questions can help focus the meeting on a goal.
8 ) If a meeting seems out of control, suggest adjourning and reconvening at a later time. This will allow you to clarify goals, prepare strategies, and better understand the issues.
9) Reflect the content of key points. This ensures that everyone has the same understanding of the key point. Although this is one of the chairperson’s responsibilities, it can be filled by anyone else in the meeting.
10) Be Prepared, prepare a list of questions, ideas, suggestions before the meeting. Then you can focus your attention on the discussion in the meeting.
11) Watch the listeners instead of the speaker. Their faces and body language will tell you whether they agree or disagree, which can help guide you participation in the discussion.
12) Work with a sense of appropriate urgency . Life is finite, and the discussions in meetings should be the same. Plan a time budget and then use it to guide your meeting. Spend extra time only when an issue warrants it.
It’s no wonder that if you follow any of these twelve tips your meeting effectiveness will improve. Remember, the key to improvement is constant measuring and review.
Be Alert, Be A Leader 
Latest News About Leadership
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:53:58 -0800
NDP leadership candidates will cross swords in Quebec City Sunday to debate foreign policy, but part of the focus is expected to be on how can New Democrats stop the party?s sudden popularity drop in the province?
Four Vintage students to attend Latina leadership conference
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:29:41 -0800
Two situations make Vintage High School junior Yatziry Galvan nervous: Flying in airplanes and public speaking. Before the end of this school year, Galvan, 17, will be conquering both fears.
Daniel Howes: Ford's leadership pushes deeper into era of stability
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:03:06 -0800
The next generation of leadership at Ford Motor Co. is quietly stepping up, a refreshing change from the frequent executive drama before CEO Alan Mulally arrived more than five years ago.
Genworth Financial Announces Two Changes to USMI Leadership Team
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:05:00 -0800
RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW - News) today announced two personnel changes that will strengthen the senior leadership team of its U.S. Mortgage Insurance (USMI) ...
NDP leadership candidates face question of sinking Quebec popularity
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:49:29 -0800
NDP leadership candidates will cross swords in Quebec City Sunday to debate foreign policy, but part of the focus is expected to be on how can New Democrats stop the party?s sudden popularity drop in the province?
6 comments
I 100% subscribe to the notion that the key to improvement is constant measuring and review.So often a time,we tend to overlook the important principles to be implemented before conducting meetings.Thats great stuff Be.Aleader
12 tips given are normal for meetings.we have to be guided more accurately how meetings could be reached to its logical end.
Very important points —Let me add a few more –1 Select a venue with the least possible disturbances , as many participanst are prone to go for an “urgent job” and some are called by their bosses in an “emergency’ . 2 The NORMS of the meeting be reiterated before the start of the meeting [ no matter how experienced the partcipants are] 3 The chairpesron should KNOW the participants well in adavance and be able to handle various conflicts if arise during the meeting 4 He /she should also have some sense of humour in order to lighten up the meeting if things get too boring ,dry or heavy 5 Above all the chairperson MUST NOT DOMINATE the meeting as its the biggest killer of any meeting . He /she should be able to LISTEN more and facilitate the participants generate ideas and reach a conclusion decision and action points.
These tips are meant to help you cover the most important aspects when setting up a meeting, or being in one. But, the most important thing is to understand why you’re having a meeting after all. I would use that as the guidance required to implement the tips in any particular situation.
Thank you for all your comments, and keep improving my good friends.
– Ken
the tips are well thought and may cover a variety of meetings however rural community meetings may require a little bit more eg the seasonal calender of these people is important as it dictates when they are available. this also go with campaign meetings.
last but not least of late have seen prominent persons invited to meetings but their value is more of intimidating other participants as these people most a times weild alot of authority. Maybe the kind of value could be clarified more.
All other tips are quite in agreement only that most meeting have no budgets set and the convenor may not have a vote on that.
Thanks we hope to read more in future
I am happy to be reading the above comments, i found that it is helpful for my life and work.
Leave a Comment