Have you ever been in a situation where you get invited to a meeting but have no idea what it’s about? Or you join a call, and you don’t end up saying anything, wondering why you are there? OR when the meeting draws attention to something trivial that takes up ¾ of the meeting? OR key decision makers bail on you last minute leaving you with little to talk about? We've all been there!
I for one host a lot of meetings, and so I had a think about my meeting bugbears and how to tackle some of these challenges. I did a bit of research and asked my colleagues what irks them when attending meetings and used this feedback to improve the quality of meetings. And I’d like to share with you some of my findings of hosting successful meetings.
Does the topic really need a meeting?
This may seem a bold statement but often I have been in part of a meeting or hosted one and thought “Did that really quantify for a gathering of minds or could this have been worked out offline?”. The main ingredient to a successful meeting is purpose and giving accountability for attendees who join to contribute to that meeting.
Explain the purpose of the meeting in a few sentences
This is a trick that works very well, as it emphasises the importance of the meeting and the reasons for coming together. If you send out your calendar invites in good time, this gives your attendees an opportunity to ask any questions in advance that allow you to prepare for your meeting.
Write an agenda
This point seems pretty obvious, but it really helps plan out a meeting and stick to the allotted time. Planning out a meeting in advance can help figure out how long each agenda item will take to cover and provide you with a meeting duration. For example, do you really need half an hour or perhaps 20 minutes? portfoliON can help you plan your agenda items, allocate time slots and delegate them to your colleagues. Once you have planned out your meeting on portfoliON you can send invites to your colleagues from the system, which will include all the meeting information in a digestible format. You can invite anyone, even if they don’t have a portfoliON account.
Stay on topic
Most of my successful meetings have been those that have had a structured, worthwhile, and spirited conversation. This is because I intend to stick to the purpose of the meeting and the agenda and try to tame any deviation away from the topic. If you hear anyone try and talk about something that is, although important, not relevant to this meeting I recommend encouraging your colleagues to talk about that “off-line” or hold another meeting to discuss that matter as you intend to stick to agenda items only.
Take action
I didn’t really tend to take minutes until I started using portfoliON and now it is an ultimate game changer for running meetings and scheduling follow-ups.
I was able to use the system to capture minutes right as I was on the phone as well as catch any actions. This allowed me to gain complete control and structure over meetings as I was able to make sense of all the important things that were said and report this to executives, sponsors and clients and share in a downloadable report.
Actions that you have captured during your meeting will integrate with the rest of your project actions so you can track them just as easily. And if you need a follow up you can duplicate your previous meeting and the actions will follow you to your next meeting. Clever, eh!?
Ensure key decision makers are present
I know it can be tough to pin down particular people with hectic schedules but I learned that an effective manner of encouraging them to join an important meeting is to give them a heads-up of the situation, why you need their attendance and how you expect them to contribute. Especially if the meeting is going to explore some complex areas that need their support for strategic purposes. If it is almost impossible to track them down, then ask them if they can provide a delegate to make those all-important decisions on their behalf.
Be inclusive
The attendees of your meeting should all have a role to fulfil to gain their feedback, provide their advice, make decisions etc. Therefore, it is important to include each attendee and politely bring them in on the conversation. More often than not this leads to a more open response and really start coming together as a team.
Knowing when to cancel
You’ve gone to all that effort of booking a meeting for a time that suits everyone, but 2 or 3 key players have let you know they can’t attend anymore due to more urgent commitments. To go ahead with the meeting seems futile at this point :( Don’t be afraid to cancel, with a note explaining the reason of the cancellation and book the next one earlier in the morning before the day can catch up with your colleagues!
What are your meeting nightmares? Let me know down below!
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