Effective Meetings

How many meetings have you attended where you left feeling like you did not understand the point of the meeting? You may have felt like it was a waste of your time or that absolutely nothing was accomplished. The key to effective meetings is knowing what the outcome should be and stick to that goal. This is the formula so that the attendees leave feeling like they have accomplished something.

Purpose

An effective meeting should have a purpose. Surely you do not gather people off of work time just because, so have a purpose for the meeting. An agenda is a great tool at keeping the meeting on target to meet expectations. Is the meeting to help make a decision, brainstorm and generate ideas, or is there a need for something to be communicated to a group? Stating the desired outcome at the beginning of the meeting will help produce a more effective meeting. Be sure that the group knows what should come out of the meeting so that they have this goal in mind.

Time

An effective meeting does not have to take a lot time. If ideas are needed, put the issue out prior to the meeting so that people can start brainstorming. This will result in ideas being ready to be presented and will make the meeting more effective and time efficient. Send the agenda out early and already have the people assigned that will discuss or present each topic. This way every person is prepared and will not be caught off guard in the meeting. Everyone should arrive to the meeting on time. This is simply a sign of respect because everyone's time is valuable. No re-cap of what has already been covered should be done for late arrivers.

Agenda

An effective meeting will follow the agenda. Sure other topics may come to light, but be sure to stay on target with your agenda. Make notes about other topics that may come up or things that need to be looked into further as these may need to be handled in a separate meeting. All tasks that are generated out of the meeting need to be made note of as well as who has been assigned to handle each task. A summary or minutes can be sent to the group afterwards to satisfy the fact that the meeting's agenda was achieved.

An effective meeting should be more than just an appointment that is sent out to a group stating the place and time. Letting your participants know in advance what the meeting will be about and allowing them preparation time is the key to making meetings effective and leaving with a sense of satisfaction.