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Make Your Meetings Matter
Make Your Meetings Matter
By Jana M. Kemp
Sales calls, staff meetings and phone calls can all be considered meetings. Coming together for a purpose is the reason for meetings. Do your meetings have clear purposes? Does every attendee know what to bring, what to achieve and what to do as a result of the meeting?
If not, follow these tips for better meetings. You'll discover more productivity, more closed sales, better service and improved morale.
1. Agenda: Have an agenda so that everyone knows what to expect at the meeting. List on the agenda what to bring, how to prepare and who will be making presentations. Also include a list of agenda items and time frames. Always include the day and date of the meeting as well as the starting and ending time of the meeting.
2. Distribute the agenda: One to five days in advance of the meeting. The agenda is the responsibility of the meeting leader or facilitator. The more frequently the meeting is held, the closer to the meeting the agenda can be distributed.
3. Minute-taker: Appoint someone to take minutes for the meeting. Every meeting needs a record of decisions made and agreements reached. Minutes become a tool for holding everyone accountable for following through.
4. Time-keeper: Appoint a time-keeper who will give half-way and ending time marks so that meeting time can be used appropriately and constructively.
5. Recorder: Appoint someone who can capture key ideas on a flipchart or whiteboard. Recording the ideas helps keep the meeting group focused on the conversation and on the problem to be solved or the decision to be made.
6. Meeting Open: Review the agenda and ask for any additions at the beginning of the meeting to confirm that everyone is ready for the discussions ahead. This is also an opportunity to discover any hidden agendas or new hot topics.
7. Stay on-track: Ultimately this is the meeting leader or facilitator's job. Participants can also help the meeting stay on-track by keeping comments to the point under discussion and by reminding others to do the same.
8. Breaks: For meetings longer than two hours, schedule a ten to fifteen minute break every hour and a-half. State clearly the start and end times for the breaks taken during the meeting.
9. Participation: As the meeting leader, protect time for every person to speak and contribute to the meeting. As a participant, be aware of speaking too much and of listening too much. Everyone has expertise to share.
10. Minutes: Hold everyone accountable. Send the minutes out within 48 hours of the meeting. Include the date and attendees of the meeting. Record the decisions made and the next actions to be taken.
Every meeting is meant to help us accomplish work. My working belief: Make your meetings matter or cancel them.
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For more information on improving meetings, seek one of the books that abound on meeting skills. Or call Jana M. Kemp who is an internationally recognized author, conference speaker and workshop provider on the subjects of improving day-to-day business meetings and time management skills. Jana hosts business-news-talk radio show MomentumT every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. on KBOI 670am. Reach Jana via her website www.janakemp.com
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