Meeting Etiquette Rules

For many professionals, business meetings take up a significant portion of each work day. Many of those meetings are disorganized and overly long, making them a source of frustration rather than useful business tools. By following time-honored meeting etiquette rules and new rules that have developed in the digital age, you can host more efficient and productive gatherings.

Start and End on Time

One of the most important meeting etiquette rules is to stick to the schedule. Often, meetings run over the allotted time, forcing attendees to reorganize their days or leave before a conclusion is reached. Respect your employees' time by letting them know in advance when the meeting will start and end — and then enforce the time limit. Attendees should follow the same rule by showing up on time or a few minutes early.

Ditch Electronic Devices

In the age of smartphones and tablets, it has become common practice to leave devices out on the table during a meeting. When the device lights up, vibrates or makes a sound, it causes a distraction and derails the conversation. What's more, when you spend time staring at your phone, it is impossible to give your full attention to the matter at hand, which leads to less effective meetings. Organizers can minimize distractions by enforcing modern meeting etiquette and requiring that devices stay off the table during the discussion. If an attendee is expecting an important call, he should set his phone on vibrate, put it in his pocket and step outside if a call comes in.

Arrive Prepared

A crucial, and often ignored, meeting etiquette rule is to arrive prepared. If you are speaking at a meeting or giving an update, gather your documents and prepare your remarks in advance. That way, you can listen actively during the minutes leading up to your presentation. To facilitate preparation, meeting organizers should distribute a detailed agenda in advance that lists the speakers, topics and time limits.

Respect Other Attendees

Respect is a crucial element of meeting etiquette. Listening and giving colleagues' ideas fair consideration are obvious aspects of respect. Less obvious are the things you may be doing without thinking: eating smelly foods during meetings, wearing too much perfume, raising your voice to talk over people or even taking off your shoes. Business meetings often happen in close quarters, making small offenses loom larger.

Meetings account for a large percentage of time in a typical office. When organizers and attendees follow meeting etiquette rules, the result is a more civilized and expedient discussion. By making a studied effort to embody and enforce accepted etiquette rules, you can create a cultural shift that trickles down through the organization until it becomes the norm.

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