Put simply, there are good meetings and there are bad meetings. If you are running a meeting, needless to say, the latter is not a desirable outcome.
Similar to how we’ve all been sat in bad lessons, experienced bad restaurants and had unfortunate encounters with bad mechanics, it is safe to say that most of us have had to sit through bad meetings - Seminars that drone on forever and your mind is focused on all the work you could be doing if you only you weren’t sat in this uninspiring room listening – or at least pretending to listen – to an uninspiring speaker.
But let’s not waste time deliberating the negatives, let’s focus on the positives and how to organise the perfect meeting that leaves all the participants feeling energised and as though they have really accomplished something by being there.
It’s not difficult to achieve the perfect meeting. However, what is does require are the three P’s – preparation, practice and performance.
As Effective Meetings advises:
“Behind virtually every memorable presentation is a good deal of planning.”
In you’re running an impending take a look at the following five ways to prepare for meeting success.
1- Identify the objective of the meeting
Dragging a bunch of colleagues away from their work for a couple of hours is only worthwhile and productive if the meeting serves a useful purpose.
It is therefore vitally important that you firstly, identify the purpose of the meeting in your own mind. Ask yourself questions such as:
. Do you want to use the meeting to generate ideas?
. Are you using it to communicate new plans/ideas to colleagues?
. Is the meeting a means of getting status reports?
At the start of the meeting remind the attendees what the purpose of the gathering is. At the end of the meeting ask yourself and your colleagues whether or not you have achieved the goals of the meeting. If you haven’t, either extend the meeting until you have or arrange another gathering specifically arranged to achieve the goals set out.
2- Conduct the meeting in a professional, well-facilitated meeting room
The room in which a meeting is held can say a lot about a company, the individual running the meeting and the general professionalism of the occasion.
If you work in an office with a meeting room make sure that, prior to the meeting, you set up all the necessary props and facilities that will help your meeting run smoothly.
For example, if you are presenting data, graphics or any kind of information to the attendees, ensure the room is equipped with the necessary overhead projector. If the meeting attendees are bringing their own computer devices to the gathering, ensure the relevant Powerpoint and Acrobat software is installed on the machines.
If you work remotely or are hosting a meeting out of town, hiring out a professional meeting room could be the solution. For example, if you live and work in London but are wanting to host a meeting in the North of England, hiring one of Carrwood Park’s professional meeting rooms in Leeds will ensure you have the latest presentation and conferencing facilities for you to conduct the meeting in a smooth and professional manner.
3- Start the meeting five minutes past the hour
Why you might cry? According to webinar expert Alex Mandossain, you should start a meeting five minutes past the hour. This, Mandossain believes, will increase the productivity of the meeting as it will give you more time to prepare.
We have to admit that whilst ‘giving yourself time to prepare’ is an essential component of a successful meeting, preparation time should be significantly longer than five minutes!
4- Ask people attending to prepare for the meeting
In order to improve the productivity of the meeting, the person who organises it should not only give those asked to attend plenty of notice but should also ask them to prepare for it. If all the attendees have an understanding of what the meeting is about, what their role at the gathering is and what they can personally bring to the seminar, the meeting is likely to be much more productive and worthwhile than if nobody really knows what it is about and why they are attending.
“Ask each meeting participant to prepare for the meeting in advance.”
5- Prepare an agenda
As well as highlighting the purpose and main objectives of the meeting in your own mind and the mind of your colleagues and clients, you should write up a comprehensive agenda.
This agenda should include:
. Priorities – what is going to be covered at the meeting?
. Attendees – Who is going to attend and why they are required to attend
. Structure – Map out the sequence of topics you are going to cover at the meeting
. Timing – How much time you will dedicate to each topic
. Date – When will the meeting take place and at what time
. Location – Where the meeting will take place
. Results – What needs to be accomplished?
According to a 2013 report which surveyed 500 office workers to find out how many hours are being spent in meetings, the average employee spends 16 hours in meetings each week!
Ensure your meeting isn’t the kind people spend twiddling their thumbs in despair by preparing your way to meeting success.
Other Blogs you may be interested in:
18 things you need to know before you book a meeting room
The pros and cons to different meeting room setups
