The Secret to Productive Meetings: How to Run Fewer & More Effective Meetings
Drowning in meetings? Learn how to host more productive meetings where every minute counts.
Is a meeting really necessary?
1. You need to share sensitive information
2. You want to explain something using your screen
3. You need a group opinion to resolve or discuss an issue or idea
4. You’re short on time
Related reading: Should This Meeting Be an Email?
5. You tried async approaches, and it didn’t work
5 best practices to make meetings more productive
1. Set a meeting etiquette for your team
Note: Meeting ground rules
These meeting rules would likely apply to internal meetings. However, each department should have a few additional ground rules specific to their role. For example, customer-facing roles like sales or support also need additional directions on balancing internal and external meetings. For instance, what should be the course of action if an urgent customer call conflicts with an internal meeting? Decide what to do in these situations in advance.
2. Define a clear agenda for each meeting and share it in advance
Pro tip: Share the agenda of the meeting
Pro tip: Share the agenda of the meeting in the beginning (or during the preparation phase) and ask if anyone in the group feels any talking points or context are missing. This will give your team and clients the opportunity to add any additional focus points if needed.
3. Invite only those who actually need to be there
4. Create a parking lot for tangents
5. Send takeaways and meeting notes
How to manage a meeting-bloated calendar
1. Establish a no-meeting day
2. Audit your recurring meetings
3. Reduce meeting times for each meeting
Rochi Zalani
Rochi is a writer covering productivity, SaaS, and the freelance lifestyle.
