How do you run effective meetings?

Be authentic. Very many times especially in larger groups, we feel hesitant to share our viewpoint for fear of it appearing silly or irrelevant. Being authentic towards the topic of discussion (without being unprofessional) and encouraging others to do the same is what I believe makes any conversation, valuable for everyone.

Before the meeting, define the agenda and include the agenda in the meeting invite. Be upfront about what outcomes you expect. Think about the time necessary for the meeting, it shouldn't be that long to scare off busy employees and should be enough to discuss the necessary topics. Make sure that the people accept the meeting invite, if they don't then follow up with each one. During the meeting, after a quick intro, stick to the agenda! If the meeting objective has been achieved, thank everyone. After the meeting send an email to all participants with the agreements reached and the next steps required.

Define up front the aim of the meeting. Set an agenda with people assigned to items. Time box the meeting. If your the organiser actually chair the call to keep it on topic and within the allocated time.

The focus of the meeting needs to be clearly communicated and align with all participants. Is it information sharing? Is it decision making? Is it request for support? Based on this flow of the meeting needs to be decided ensuring inputs as required from the members. For information heavy meetings, sharing content (presentation, note, web links etc.) help in allowing the participants to come in better informed.

The simple exercise of stating the purpose of a meeting in a group chat often extinguishes the need for an unnecessary assembly, a.k.a. a waste of time. What are the questions we'll ask? If we can get the answers in the chat before the meeting, it is unnecessary. If you need the session, respect everyone's time, start with minimum tolerance, and preferably finish it before. Intentionally address remote folks by name and confirm everyone's understanding before your time ends.

It’s really important to make sure a diverse set of people are invited too. It’s easy for folks from under represented groups (URGs) to get over looked, especially the quieter, more introspective folks. Don’t just invite the loud voices to the room. Part of running effective meetings is ensuring all voices get a seat at the table and no one that should have a voice is overlooked because of bias or background or any other misapplication of privilege. And if any folks don’t speak during the meeting, follow up to see what’s on their mind - especially those that are quieter or from URGs. This is what great allyship looks like. Call out when people are missing and do your best to include them and ensure they feel safe and heard.

Invite only the related person who are essential to achieving the meeting's objectives. Having people who do not contribute to the discussion can lead to waste of time and resources. Without having the right key people in a meeting, decisions may be postponed or delayed, causing project timelines to slip

Meetings should be helpful for organization growth. Meetings cannot be conducted with a hidden agenda and not with targeting a particular department or person. Meetings should be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere and ask for contributions from each person / department who have been called.

The power of summarising is constantly underestimated. It allows key points to be understood by everyone and also provides an opportunity for agreement or challenge. I like to record actions and progress against actions in the series meeting invite. This allows everyone to find the actions prior to the meeting. Highlighting green for complete and red for late is also extremely effective.

I always share my screen with all participants and write below each point the answers, possible new questions and responsibilities, so that everybody can read and follow, and I ask if it's Okay or what needs to be adapted before moving to the next point. This way, the minutes are ready and can be distributed right after the meeting.

Never lose the focus of the purpose of the meeting. Meetings have a tendency to diagress from the purpose and it’s important to steer the conversation back to focus on what the meeting was supposed to be about in the first place. Short, interactive , focused discussions with time for all to speak their views makes an effective meeting.

Microsoft DevOps has a Restrospectives feature where scrum participants can provide feedback. Maybe Jira or another tool has something similar.

The most effective meeting is the one you don't have. Always question if a meeting is necessary, or if you can accomplish your goals with an email, a chat, or a series of short individual calls. If you must have a meeting, actively manage attendance. Only invite people who are expected to contribute, or who are required to hear the information. If a decision needs to be made during the meeting, inform your participants beforehand. Speak with them ahead of time to address any concerns they might have. Otherwise, you could spend hours discussing and never reach a conclusion.

To start and end the meeting on time: ? Begin the meeting at the scheduled time, even if not everyone is present. ? Respect participants' time by ending the meeting as planned. ? Keep an eye on the clock and ensure that discussions stay within the allocated time for each agenda item.