9 tips to make your work meeting less boring!
Business meetings give rhythm to our professional lives. And for good reason! They are essential for the smooth running of company activities and project management.
Many people consider most meetings to be pointless and see them as a waste of time.
What to do in a business meeting? How to hold a meeting with employees? What are the best practices? These are relevant and common questions.
Between tips and discovering software that can help you, find out how to hold an efficient meeting.
What is a business meeting?
The purpose of the meeting
A business meeting consists of bringing together different participants in order to discuss certain issues or even achieve a predefined objective.
On the other hand, a working meeting is only necessary when there is a need for exchanges, or even to (try to) speed up certain decisions and processes. Except in exceptional cases, avoid organising a meeting with the aim of transmitting information in a top-down manner. In this case, a simple e-mail may suffice.
What is the first step in organising a meeting?
Think about the objectives. It may seem obvious, but ask yourself: "Why do I need to bring my colleagues together?" Without this prior reflection, you run the risk of wasting your time and that of everyone else.
A meeting can have different types of objectives, for example:
- to establish an action plan;
- (re)organising a department;
- (re)organising working methods;
- to welcome a new employee
- to coordinate projects;
- discussing analyses and results;
- negotiation, etc.
Once you've established an objective, you'll find it easier to define other points that will improve the efficiency and productivity of the meeting.
How to prepare a business meeting?
As a good meeting (a productive meeting) is a well-prepared meeting, take the time to:
- Select the right participants;
- Choose the best day and time for everyone;
- Choose a suitable venue;
- Establish a meeting plan;
- Involve the participants;
- Prepare the necessary documents and materials.
Select the right people
There's nothing more frustrating than the feeling of having wasted time with a business meeting that you didn't need to attend.
That's why you have to be careful when selecting participants. Always ask yourself the question: which people will be essential to achieving the defined objective?
Choose the best day and time
Find a date that works for everyone. And avoid meetings between 2pm and 4pm as much as possible; because of digestion, the brain is much less receptive in this time slot.
Having trouble finding the right time and day for each meeting? There is software that can help you. Doodle, for example, proposes several "windows" for which each participant indicates whether or not they are available. All you have to do is select the date that works for everyone.
©️ Doodle.
Doodle
Choose a suitable venue
The venue must offer sufficient capacity for all participants. Bear in mind that artificial light is much more tiring for the brain than daylight.
With the evolution of work tools, it is possible to hold meetings when not all participants are "physically" present. These are virtual meetings. To do this, use software such as Skype, for example, which has been an option for years. Its business version allows you to share documents, screens and can host up to 250 participants per conference.
©️ Skype.
Skype
Establishing a work meeting plan
As organising an efficient and dynamic meeting necessarily involves developing a plan, we suggest:
- highlight the agenda to everyone, i.e. the list of topics to be dealt with, discussed, voted on, etc. Ideally, this should be done a few days before the meeting;
- prioritise the topics to be discussed;
- allocate a specific amount of time for each phase;
- consider including extra time for questions;
- if necessary, include the names of the participants, as well as the place and date of the working meeting in your document.
Involve the participants...
In the preparation of your meeting and, if necessary, invite some to work on the topics to be discussed. Send out your agenda and indicate the topics for which you would like them to take the lead in the meeting.
Prepare documents and working materials
Take some time to prepare your supporting and working documents. These are what make the meeting more dynamic and efficient.
You can use software for this. For example, Prezi, which offers dynamic templates (created by designers) that will make your presentations more engaging. It also allows several team members to create and work together, share and edit.
Check the availability and condition of the equipment you intend to use (pens, flipchart paper, projectors, etc.). Who hasn't wasted precious time because a projector didn't work?
Prezi
How to conduct a business meeting?
Start the meeting correctly
- start on time;
- recall the agenda and objectives of the meeting;
- do a quick review of each participant's role, and remind them of the total time of the meeting;
- if necessary, appoint someone to take notes (to prepare the minutes) or even to manage the time.
Some programmes make it easier to take minutes of the meeting. Beenote, for example, is a tool that allows you to record your notes, decisions and tasks. These will automatically be added to the minutes. Beenote also provides timers to help you better manage meeting time.
©️ Beenote.
Beenote
Steer the work meeting in the right direction
To achieve this, make sure that the agenda is respected and that the discussions are properly directed. Also:
- make sure there is a fair distribution of the floor, and encourage all participants to speak;
- anticipate and minimise conflicts;
- make good use of working documents and facilitation tools;
- synthesise and ensure that information and understanding of the topics is disseminated;
Closing the meeting
Summarise the discussions and recap the decisions taken. Make sure you always send a report to the meeting participants: based on the minutes, and summarising the progress and conclusions of the meeting.
Your work meetings will be more productive
Holding meetings is a necessity, but it doesn't mean you have to waste everyone's time. Meetings can be increasingly productive and efficient. It's fundamental within strategic management that operational management (and that includes meetings) is efficient.
But how do you know for sure how to run a productive meeting? There's no secret: it's planning and preparation.
Also think about using specific software: it can make your meeting a success and make it much more collaborative and dynamic.
Now, when are you going to hold your next team meeting?
Article translated from Portuguese