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I don’t know how many times I have heard the phrase about meetings …
“Yep, we are in a meeting talking about things we should be doing, but can’t, cause we are in meetings talking about it!”
I wholeheartedly agree with cutting down meeting time. Or, at the very least get your meetings on track.
Top 5 Tips
- Set an agenda – send it out prior to the meeting. Also define a purpose.
- Send out meeting docs – to be read – before the meeting.
- Stick to a time-table (Start at X o’clock, XY+Z Topics take X minutes apiece) Make the meetings productive, predictable and as short as possible.
- Designate a meeting facilitator. (Read: Time keeper!)
- Set up defined action items to be done as a result of the meeting
Oh and #6 (an add-on) “Is this meeting really necessary – could I cover it off in a phone call, an email, a conference call (God forbid) or walking to my colleagues desk and having a quick discussion?”
Meetings are a necessary evil, but like all things moderation (pun intended) is the key!
3 comments
Most meetings do tend to get obscured in petty details and lead nowhere near to any effective decision making
I think preparatory work undertaken before the meeting is most likely to prove fruitful then the actual delibrations during one.
nice,
I think preparatory work undertaken before the meeting is most likely to prove fruitful then the actual delibrations during one.