The One-Page?Rule - A Simple Hack to Lead Meetings to the Next Level

Leading a meeting well requires rare talent, in my opinion. A good meeting has the momentum of a moving sidewalk — not so fast that folks tip over, yet clearly moving forward in a way that’s worth every rider’s time. There is an easy cadence to a good meeting, as issues get resolved and moved along.

Achieving that cadence requires:

1. Keeping people out of the weeds.
2. Drawing words out of quiet minds.
3. Holding back the outspoken without offending.
4. Neutralizing politics (office, and sometimes national).
5. Recognizing 800-pound elephants, but in a way that makes them smaller.

That list of skills is hard to learn, which is why well-run meetings are rare. But there is one highly effective meeting hack that relies less on natural talent and is therefore easier to perfect. Allow me to explain it.

The One-Page Rule

Here’s the rule: Fit the agenda on one page and ensure any supporting documents fit entirely on one page per topic.

Wait, that’s it? That's your hack?

That’s right. And it is easier said than done. When is the last time you’ve been to a meeting with a one-page handout?

People “get” one page. They can wrap their minds around it. They can endure it, and generally they can understand it.

The minute a document crosses the one-page mark, feelings begin to set in that are not productive. Weariness is one. Confusion is another. Nitpicking details is another.

One-page signals speed and high-level clarity. It also signals preparation, because one-page doesn’t happen on its own. In fact, it requires significant effort. Here are 5 guiding principles to help achieve this rule:

Point 1. Determine the most important thing you want to present. What are you really trying to show? Net income? Sales growth? Profit by product? The advantage of opening a plant in Peoria?

Whatever that “main thing” is must become the focus of the one page. Acknowledging and understanding the main thing makes it much easier to cut the information down to size.

Point 2. Keep excessive detail to yourself. Especially in finance, there can be a lot of detail behind summary information. Often the supporting detail is critical to understanding the summary information. It’s tempting to hand out the detail en masse.

Instead, painfully summarize only the “main thing” on one page and keep the full detail in your back pocket. Or even put it on the table in front of you at the meeting. If questions arise, simply explain the additional detail to the group. If someone really needs to know more, you can deep dive one-on-one after the meeting.

Point 3. On the one page, put the summarized information first and any support after. Ideally, the most important information you present will fit in one chart, graphic, or table at the top of the page. That leaves the bottom of the page for what I call “summarized detail.” It usually is not the full detail, but can be a sequential, step-by-step framework showing in a more expanded form how you arrived at the summary on top.

Here is a finance example: At the top of the page have a 5-line summary income statement (Revenue, Cost of sales, Gross profit, etc.). At the bottom, have several breakout lists showing the major accounts that go into those summary lines at the top (e.g. Revenue broken out into Revenue-Cars, Revenue-Trucks, etc.). 

What about the full 4-page detailed income statement you’re getting the information from? Keep that in your back pocket to answer any questions. Do not hand out the 4-pager.

Putting the summarized conclusion at the top helps keep the big picture in focus. Starting with the details at the top tends to drag people into the weeds and can prevent them from ever grasping the big picture. 

For example if you start with a more detailed income statement first, the sales manager might get worked up over an incorrect figure in marketing expense and lose sight of a troubling decline in overall gross profit margin.

Point 4. Maximize data by reducing outside margins rather than reducing interior white space. The human eye is less intimidated by tight side margins than by a large unbroken clump of data in the middle of the page. If necessary, take your outside margins out to the minimums to keep your report on one page and preserve interior white space.

When I’m developing a one-page presentation, I experiment carefully with the combination of information and white space. Sometimes I remove a couple lines of info to add an extra row of white space between each section. Sometimes I make the painful (and dangerous) decision to eliminate white space so my data indeed fits on one page. That should be a last resort.

This part of the one-page rule is probably the most difficult to master. It requires a bit of an artist’s eye to maximize the quantity of data while not overwhelming the page with ink.

Be alert for the need to switch to landscape orientation depending on the shape of the data. However, keep in mind vertical alignment is superior in a meeting setting. Stick with that as much as possible.

Point 5. Utilize bold, underline, and different font size to replace white space. Well-placed formatted headings not only contribute to comprehension but can also take the place of white space. After I have most of my data summarized, I like to spend a bit of time experimenting with white space vs formatted headings to separate the sections on my page. Well-developed headings often improve the readability of the page.

The Last Step?

Confidence. It can feel almost awkward to arrive at a meeting with only one page, or with a one-page agenda and several well-developed one-page supporting documents. 

You have to keep in mind the success of a meeting is not judged by the amount of material handed out. Rather, a successful meeting is one where people leave more informed and better able to do their jobs than when they arrived.

The best chance to achieve that is to give them one sheet they can see all-at-once and comprehend. If your audience leaves more productive, more informed, and less frustrated than when they came, you’ve achieved a (rare) well-run meeting.