Effective Meetings

Make your Meeting Valuable

When scheduling a meeting, make sure you know what you need to accomplish and make a plan for getting it done. Even when there isn’t much “business” that needs to take place, you can still make your meeting worthwhile by planning a teambuilder or social activity that will strengthen your group.

 

Create an Agenda

Agendas give meetings an order, keep them moving and let people know what’s going on. If possible, send out the agenda a couple of days before the meeting so members can look it over and come prepared and ready to discuss the issues. Also, you might want to begin the meeting with everyone checking in – talking about the last movie they saw, or how their week is going. This will bring the participants a little closer and create a more relaxed atmosphere.

 

Time is Critical: Start and End on Time

Once business has started, keep tangential discussions to a minimum. You might want to assign someone as a time keeper to let you know when it’s getting close to the scheduled ending time.

 

Keep Records

Have someone keep accurate minutes or record of the meeting (decisions, issues, tasks). Give out minutes within a few days of the meeting to all group members whether they attended or not.

 

End on a High Note

Summarize what has been said and end on a positive note by acknowledging the work of everyone at the meeting. Set a time and place for the next meeting at the end of your meeting. Let those who weren’t able to attend know when it will be as soon as possible so they can mark their schedules.

As a leader, one of your jobs is to encourage future leadership. One way to do this is to offer other group members a chance to facilitate a meeting. Rotating facilitators reduces the feeling that one person is in charge and has sole decision-making power. Do all you can to get others involved!