Meetings

As many of us spend?half their work hours in meetings, it's important to ensure meetings are effective. Research shows meeting quality is directly proportional to organization efficiency. While there is no right answer for an effective meeting as it varies based on teams, project, location etc, Here are some thoughts?to consider to make the business meetings more efficient, collaborative, and professional

1. Come prepared?

For every meeting, be prepared with an agenda. This way you can ensure, you only set up meetings when you need one. Make sure you send the agenda and any relevant docs upfront which gives everyone a chance to have the context before the meeting. Also it's advisable to stick to the agenda. If you notice you’ve drifted off-topic, take note of what it was and bring the conversation back to its main purpose. You can schedule a separate?meeting with relevant audiences for these off-topics. For example you can say, “Let’s discuss the API implementation in another meeting with just the developers.”

2. Starting on time?

Starting the meeting on time shows professionalism and respect for others' time. This applies to a virtual meeting just as much as an in-person meeting. Joining the video conferencing call a bit early is also a great way to get ahead of any potential tech issues. Often leaders have a packed schedule and for them it's advisable to leave a 5 min buffer, or start meeting 5 mins late (for example 10.05AM), so they can reach and start meeting on time.

3. Meeting surrounding (for virtual meetings)

• Mute yourself unless you’re talking -?Enable your mute option before starting the meeting. This reduces background noise and interruptions when someone is speaking.?
• Also try to keep your hands off the keyboard (unless you are taking notes). The sound of typing can be very distracting for everyone.
• Use Emoji Reactions and the Raise Hand Feature - This helps provide feedback without interrupting someone’s flow by using emoji reactions or raising your hand during the meeting.
• Put your phone away or on silent to avoid distractions?

4. Minimize distractions?

To make the most of your time, Give your full attention to the meeting topic. It can be tempting to check your phone or flip through your documents during a particularly longer meeting but refrain from doing so. There’s a chance that you may miss out on key information, and more than that it’s just distracts the presenter?

5. Silent read?

Lets say, you need a decision made in the meeting and have sent the doc for a pre-read, often people don't have time to read the doc upfront. In such cases, you can reserve the first 15 mins for everyone to read silently and comment. This ensures the right audience has the context before the decision is made.

6. Meeting duration

Ensure you can finish the meeting on time. Let's say you have 3 topics to discuss in a 30 min meeting, set up a 10 min timer for each topic and follow the schedule. For longer duration meetings, schedule periodic breaks. Break will help take a moment away from screen, grab a coffee or just a bio-break.

7. Make the meeting inclusive

Encourage an inclusive environment by ensuring that all team members can voice their opinions. Create an atmosphere where diverse perspectives are valued and considered in the decision-making process. You can achieve this by pausing for questions periodically during your presentation

8. Meeting audience?

Often you might have attended meetings with 50+ people which are often less effective in driving alignment or have discussions. Invite Only Those Who Need to be There to make the meeting more effective. A summary can be sent to the broader team as an FYI

9. Meeting summary?

Before ending the meeting, summarize all the important topics discussed and assign?key action items and follow-ups (if any). The notetaker should send out the summary and action items after the meeting.?

Making meetings effective is a learning process. If you have more experiences or thoughts, feel free to comment.