Streamline Your Meetings With These Seven Steps

Many professionals agree that it's time to do away with long, drawn-out business meetings. Shorter sessions are more favorable, as they're easier to fit into everyone's schedule and are more likely to keep everyone's attention. Follow these seven steps to help streamline meetings at your workplace.

1. Distribute a Meeting Agenda

The easiest way to streamline meetings is to stay on task from start to finish. The only way to remain on task is to create a clear agenda before the gathering. Whether you plan to hold the meeting in person, over the phone or through video conferencing, make sure each attendee gets a copy of the agenda in advance.

2. Create Calendar Reminders

Streamline meetings by sending each worker a reminder email or text within 24 hours of the session. Some workers may forget about the meeting, so sending a reminder increases the likelihood of everyone showing up on time, allowing you to get started right away. Attach the meeting agenda to the reminder to ensure everyone has a copy.

3. Set Clear Start and Finish Times

Show clear start and finish times on the agenda, and stick to them to help streamline meetings. Limit discussions during meetings by only allowing attendees to ask questions at the end. It's also a good idea to spend a very specific amount of time on each agenda topic. For example, if you have six agenda topics and your meeting length is 45 minutes, discuss each topic for seven minutes or less.

4. Pare Down the Invite List

Only invite the most essential personnel to help streamline meetings. Fewer people in attendance means less discussion time and fewer questions. If the session only involves department heads, these supervisors can disseminate the information from the meeting to their respective teams.

5. Present a Clear Meeting Leader

Too many leaders make the meeting run much longer than necessary. Make sure there's only one meeting head who takes everyone from one agenda point to the next. This person regulates the time on each agenda point and lets other staff members speak at appropriate times.

6. Encourage Attendees to Take Notes

Taking notes allows employees to jot down important information to discuss at the end of the meeting or privately with superiors after the meeting ends. Technology can help with this. Encourage attendees to bring recording devices or note-taking software to the meeting if they have it available.

7. Follow Up

An attendee might forget to ask a specific question during the meeting, or he might think of a question after the meeting ends. Follow up by sending an email to all attendees thanking them for their attendance, and ask them to reply to the email if they have questions.

Streamline meetings using these seven steps to make your office more productive. Once your co-workers realize you keep things simple, they might actually enjoy attending your regular sessions.

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