How to Deal With a Day of Meetings

Almost every business professional dreads a full day of meetings. Time is a valuable resource in business, and meetings that are not productive needlessly consume that valuable resource. To survive a day of meetings, follow these simple tips.

Organize yourself before the meetings with proper planning. Arrange with support staff to keep up-to-date with any important happenings while away from the office. Schedule your time in 15-minute increments before you leave the office. Stay on track with your schedule, and make sure that your assistant has a copy, if applicable. Set up call-forwarding from your office to your cell phone to follow up with calls between meetings, but also set your ring tone to silent or vibrate during the meeting to avoid interruptions. Another option is to provide an assistant with a list of contacts who can have your phone number if they call the office.

Prepare for each meeting ahead of time with separate file folders for paper documents and presentation aids, and use online cloud programs for electronic information. Keep separate virtual or actual folders for each meeting. When you have too many meetings, it is easy to confuse the purpose of each and your different presentations. Proper labeling provides an easy way to check that you have all the materials you need for a day of meetings.

Keep your time away from working at your desk meaningful by creating an agenda for each meeting ahead of time. According to an article in The New York Times, a day of meetings is more productive if participants set clear objectives beforehand. Target all discussions during the meeting toward goals. Not only is your meeting more productive, but it also makes your meeting shorter by cutting out needless conversations. Send an email before the meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page. Provide an official agenda for meetings that cover more than one objective.

Stay alert and make sure that you are an active participant during your day of meetings by taking notes. Write down important points from the meetings, questions you have for the speaker, ideas to share after others speak or a to-do list. With too many meetings in one day, it is a good idea to keep notes for each meeting on a separate sheet of paper. Some industry professionals even recommend different notebooks for different clients or purposes.

With the proper organization, preparation and coping tactics, it is possible to take control of a day of meetings with success. When you feel stress from your day, just take a few deep breaths to relieve tension. Then place your focus on the accomplishments of your meetings to make sure you do not waste time away from your office.

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