Is there anything worse than wasting your time (and everyone else’s) at a meeting that ends up being colossally unproductive? The meeting started late; there was no clear objective or agenda; no one knew who was in charge, and ultimately… nothing was accomplished that couldn’t have been done in an email.
Meetings like this leave everyone with a slightly sour feeling and instill dread in your team around the next meeting that rolls around. Luckily, it is possible to run a meeting that accomplishes your goals, provided you go into it with a little forethought.
Know Your Game Plan
It seems like a no-brainer but make sure you know what the point of the meeting is in the first place. Have a clear agenda with a clear sense of purpose and have it in place before anyone even gets together face-to-face.
You want your team to know precisely why they’re there and what the goal is by the end of the meeting. If you don’t have a clear purpose, then you probably shouldn’t be having a meeting yet. Try email instead.
Set Your Batting Order
Give the people on your team specific roles for the meeting. Assign someone to make introductions, assign someone to do the wrap-up, and whatever other various jobs that may be pertinent to help the meeting run smoothly.
Don’t just expect people to show up and not give them any kind of responsibility over the outcome. When you give people responsibility, more often than not, they will rise to the occasion. This is how rockstar teams are born.
Make Sure You Warm-Up
Make an elevator pitch for what you want to accomplish during the meeting. If there are important points you don’t want to miss going over during the meeting, write them down or even better, memorize them.
If you expect individual members of your team to contribute something specific, make sure they know to be prepared and have their points or pitch ready to rock.
Set the Tone
It’s a meeting. Bring a pen, bring paper, bring whatever you need to help the meeting run smoothly without interrupting the flow. Expect everyone in attendance to arrive with the same level of preparedness, and make sure they know you expect them to contribute to any new ideas you might toss around. No wall-flowers allowed.
Respect everyone’s time and set the tone by making sure you are punctual and expect everyone else to be punctual too so that the meeting can be run by the clock.
Plan of Attack
Remember, your meetings should have a purpose. By the end of it, you should have a solid plan of attack on how you’re going to achieve all the goals you and your team have set.
Think of it as an action plan. Who will do what, when is this or that due, and how will X, Y, or Z be executed? Write these things down, and then you will have it as a frame of reference during subsequent meetings.
If you’re looking for somewhere professional to set the tone of your next business meeting or planning sesh – look no further. We will provide the perfect space for you to turn your agenda into reality.
