Tips For Effective Meetings

As a leader, you probably spend a considerable amount of time in meetings. These meetings can be hugely valuable or, sadly, a complete waste of your (and everyone else's) time.

Here are four tips for running meetings that are more effective, more efficient and more productive.

1. Prepare properly: Go slow to go fast. The time you spend upfront can make all the difference in how well your meeting will run. Using the "8 Ps" will help ensure your meetings are a good use of everyone's time. Preparation also allows you to have the meeting start on time and run smoothly.
2. Create an Agenda: A well-thought-out agenda with specific time allocations will go a long way to having a meeting that runs smoothly and on time. You may want to have a brainstorming session before a meeting to pinpoint agenda items. Sending out an agenda to meeting participants beforehand is also a good idea.
3. Write an invite: Your invite to team members needs to say more than "show up at 8:00 am". Make sure you include a compelling and clear subject line, the purpose of the meeting, the reason they were asked to attend, and what they'll need to be prepared for the meeting. See our meeting invitation checklist to learn more about writing a successful meeting invite. 
4. Create and enforce meeting norms: Attendees don't intend to be disruptive, well most don't, but you still will have to find ways to manage participant's behavior. Posting meeting norms on the wall and getting agreement at the start of a meeting will help you manage the behaviors that get in the way of having a useful and efficiently run meeting.

Good communication is another important aspect of how to organize and run effective meetings.

These are the rules I like to use for running effective meetings.

• Everyone can speak
• Only one speaker at a time
• E-manners (no phones or computers)
• ELMO (Enough Let's Move On)
• Start and stop on time

When someone breaks the rules that were agreed upon, you simply can refer to the posted norms. This keeps the offending person from being called out and embarrassed. This is an effective meeting strategy for keeping everyone engaged and ensuring everyone's voice is heard.

These four tips for running an effective meeting are a good start to making your meetings more productive.

Effective Communication For Meetings

Communication is essential when running an effective staff meeting. Some tips for effective communication during meetings include:

• Paying attention to your body language and facial expressions to show you're engaged
• Ensuring everyone has time to speak during team meetings
• Ending with action items or an action plan to show progress was made
• Providing meeting minutes to attendees and individuals who may have missed the meeting

As you can see, communicating effectively is a combination of verbal communication, body language, and preparation that Laurie Brown can help you master.

Hire Laurie Brown for Meeting Facilitation Training

Contact me if you or your team need to make meetings more effective, efficient and productive. Laurie's programs get results when it comes to running effective meetings, training and more.

Learn methods to run meetings that work. Meeting facilitation workshops are ideal for in-house training or breakout sessions at your next event.

Contact Laurie Now at (248) 761-7510 for Your Next Event or Training Session.