Meetings are critical to an organization, and an effective meeting host ensures that the participants stay on track for the whole ride without straying too far for too long.
With a few proactive measures and best practices, meeting organizers can ensure that they get the most out of the attendees during the meeting, and in this post, we will discuss exactly that.
So let's jump in.
Pre-meeting checklist
Most meeting organizers accumulate stress over things they might have overlooked while preparing for the meeting, which might cause the meeting to be disrupted and go off track.
An excellent way to avoid this would be to have a pre-meeting or a meeting preparation checklist which can remove most contingencies & diversions during the meeting.
Create a meeting agenda
Walking into a meeting without an agenda is like venturing into a dense forest without a compass or a map. A good meeting agenda will ensure that prospective attendees are prepared and know what is expected.
A good meeting agenda will specify the goals of the meeting, the structure of the discourse, and topics that need to be handled during the meeting, so there are no ambiguities.
Appoint a timekeeper
There are several roles that meeting organizers can assign to attendees, and one of the more critical ones is that of the timekeeper. When someone is on the clock ensuring that time is well allocated for particular topics/subjects for discussion, it is harder to stray for too long.
Therefore, as the organizer, it is your responsibility to layout clear instructions for your meeting's timekeepers so that they can perform their duties effectively, and this includes:
Topics to be discussed
Topic prioritization/non-negotiables
Time to be allocated for each topic
Buffer room
Write meeting notes
One of the best ways to keep track of the meeting and stay on it is by writing meeting notes for its sake. Here is a blog post on how to take meeting notes that might be of help.
Meeting notes will first and foremost affirm that the discussion is on track and is articulated into something actionable. You can use Routine to write your in-meeting notes without switching between different apps for your notes, calendar, and task management.
Share feedback with attendees
People need feedback to improve, and meetings are no different. With effective and honest feedback, you can expect your meeting attendees to work on their shortcomings which include digression during the meeting.
Hence, if one or more of your attendees are often straying, do make it a point to share your concern with them after the meeting.
Maintain meeting hierarchy
An effective meeting has the organizer at the helm to ensure everything is in order, and you must maintain that hierarchy during the meeting. As the organizer, it is your responsibility to ensure that the meeting is effective; ergo, you should enforce rules that will keep it that way.
If there is a digression or if a topic is taking too long, it is up to you to step in and take a call on whether to continue or move on to another topic.
Conclusion
With the practices mentioned above, you can be assured of better meeting conduct and outcomes. Did we miss anything? Let us know on Twitter (RoutineHQ).
And if you have suggestions for future topics you would like us to cover, let us know. Thanks for reading.
