5 Rules to Conducting an Effective Meeting
I hate wasting time in needless meetings. Doesn’t everybody? Well, if that were the case, the rules below wouldn’t be necessary.
Very simply, here are my simple guidelines to conducting an effective and efficient meeting:
- Time’s Up! - Break out Mom’s egg timer and limit the duration of the meeting to no more than 20 minutes. Once the timer goes off, meeting is adjourned – regardless of who is talking and what has been accomplished.
- No Agenda, No Meeting – In advance of the meeting, define and distribute a detailed agenda outlining the meeting’s purpose, tasks, activities, discussion time allocations, and the desired goal(s). If you can’t take the time to define these, why should people take the time to attend?
- “My Dog Ate It” – To expedite discussions, provide homework to participants so they arrive well-prepared and ready to speak intelligently about the topic at hand. Meetings aren’t for reading, presenting, or re-capping, they’re for decisive action and results.
- Standing Room Only – Nothing says “get to the point” better than a room full of impatiently agitated people. Remove the chairs, get away from the conference room table, and force people to stand uncomfortably as their peers babble on needlessly.
- Do’ers Welcome – Do you have a role in the discussions? Are you responsible for owning a deliverable? If not, make like Michael and beat it – you’re not invited. Meetings are for “do’ers,” not “chime’ers.”
That’s it. Give ‘em a shot. You just might get something accomplished.
