Managing Business Meetings

Meetings may not always be the best use of people's time and effort. If you are thinking of holding a meeting to discuss an issue related to your project, team, or department, give serious thought to whether gathering the attendees in one place is really the most efficient use of everyone's time. There are some good alternatives to gathering everyone together for a meeting. For example, you could try:

• conference calls or videoconferencing: if these are viable alternatives for you they offer a good way of holding a discussion without having to disrupt the attendees' day too much;
• an e-mail discussion: You can easily facilitate this by sending a message to all relevant parties. Your e-mail should set out the issue clearly, ask for a response, and give a deadline—and double-check that you've included everyone before sending it! Also, let people know whether you want their responses sent to you alone or to all the recipients.
• If all else fails, and a face-to-face meeting seems to be the best and least unwieldy way of arranging a plan of action, prepare as much as you can in advance and delegate where appropriate.

Good planning goes a long way in assuring a successful meeting, and an important first step is deciding who to invite. Remember that the most productive meetings are usually those with the fewest number of people attending, so try to limit your list by only inviting those who really need to be there. These will be people directly involved in the decisions that need to be made during the meeting, those significantly affected by the decisions, or those who have some specific knowledge to contribute. If the meeting is to cover a variety of issues and may be lengthy, consider asking people to drop in and out when their part of the agenda comes up.

Give everyone plenty of notice regarding the time and place of the meeting, and circulate a draft agenda outlining the topics to be discussed and the time limits assigned to each topic. A good agenda will clearly state the purpose of the meeting, so attendees will know why they've been called together, and what needs to be accomplished. Setting time limits is also a good idea, as it creates a healthy sense of urgency. By stipulating the start and finish time of the meeting, as well as setting time limits for each topic on the agenda (particularly important if you're holding a lengthy meeting and asking people to drop in and out), you'll encourage people to stay focused. Sticking to these fixed times is essential, of course, for this to work.

Other information you should provide for attendees prior to the meeting includes:

• directions to the venue in case they haven't been there before;
• information on who else is attending (this will be particularly helpful if you're going to be joined by people external to your company such as consultants, freelance contributors, or designers) ;
• background information or documents that are relevant to the meeting. For example, if you're going to discuss an overhaul of your product catalog, send everyone a copy of your existing brochure so they can look it over before the meeting. You might also include copies of similar publications whose style you admire, so people can get ideas about new ways of presenting your products.
• your contact details and those of one other person in the office (such as your assistant or a coworker) in case of emergency.

If you've scheduled your meeting to take place over lunch, or if it will last more than a couple of hours, you'll need to plan food and drink. Remember to ask all attendees whether they have any special dietary requirements. This will save a lot of time and stress on the day of the meeting. However, research shows that the best time to hold a meeting is just before lunch or toward the end of the day—this motivates attendees to focus on the agenda and keeps the meeting from running long.

It's best to find someone other than yourself to take the minutes. You will want to be free to steer the meeting as appropriate. If that person is new to the project or issue you're going to discuss, you might want to go over some relevant key words or acronyms so that he or she is not baffled by the jargon—you and the other attendees may be well versed in the relevant vocabulary, but you want to make sure there is no confusion on the part of the minute-taker.

Once you are sure about holding a meeting, the next step is to find an appropriate space for it. If your company has a reservation system for meeting rooms, get your plans in well in advance to make sure that you can get an appropriately sized room for the date and time you want. Plan early and don't assume that the room you want will be available at the last minute.

As the meeting draws near, make sure that:

• the room is clean and doesn't contain unnecessary materials or supplies;
• you have enough tables and chairs to accommodate everyone, and they are arranged to best suit your needs;
• the flip chart, if you're using one, has enough paper and pens ready;
• there is enough light, heating, or ventilation for the time of day and year;
• there are enough power outlets, and that they're in the right place if you're going to be using an overhead projector or laptop;
• any equipment in the room is ready to use and is working properly.

Once your numbers are confirmed you can make further catering arrangements. If your company has a restaurant, arrange well in advance for someone to bring refreshments such as coffee and water to the meeting. If your organization is small or doesn't have a catering facility, coworker or assistant to be prepared to go out to a nearby coffee shop or café to bring in what's needed. Again, this will free you up to attend to other tasks.

Plan to arrive early on the day of the meeting, arrive in plenty of time so that you can double-check that everything is in place and ready to go. Once the attendees have arrived, there are a few steps to follow which will help things run smoothly:

• begin on time.
• welcome everyone, and briefly explain basic issues such as where the restrooms are located (particularly helpful for anyone who hasn't been to your offices before) and what the catering arrangements are.
• ask everyone to make sure they've turned off their cell phones and other devices so that the flow of discussion isn't interrupted.
• clearly state why the meeting is being held, what you hope to achieve in the meeting, the timescale, and finishing time.
• explain the agenda of each item on the agenda.

You will want to give everyone an opportunity to contribute to points raised on the agenda. At the same time, don't forget that it's your responsibility to make sure that you keep roughly on schedule (and on topic). For example:

• make sure that attendees keep to one agenda point at a time;
• summarize at appropriate intervals and restate agreed-upon points clearly (the person taking the minutes will be particularly grateful for this);
• firmly but politely move the discussion forward if a subject has become exhausted.

One or two vociferous attendees can sometimes dominate a meeting, so in your role as chair you need to make sure that there is only one discussion at a time. Sometimes, people start their own "private" meetings during the main session. This may be limited to a few whispered asides, or involve notes being passed around the table, or even a full-blown separate discussion. Stop these diversions by addressing directly the people involved and asking them politely but assertively if there's something they'd like to raise. For example, you could say: "If there are issues that people aren't happy with, let's raise them now before we go any further. We have a lot to get through today."

Wrap up the meeting by thanking everyone for their attendance and contribution. If there is to be another meeting, let attendees know when it is to be held. If that can't be arranged immediately, do so as soon as possible. This will encourage the attendees not to forget about the topics discussed the moment they leave the room.

Clarify with the person taking the minutes that they need to write them up as soon as possible so that they can be distributed to all the attendees promptly. Most will only glance briefly at the meeting minutes, or refer back to them in order to locate a specific piece of information. This means that they need to be extremely concise and clear. The key things to note are:

• agreed-upon actions dealing with the issues raised;
• the people responsible for implementing them;
• deadline or timing for interim reporting back;
• date of next meeting if you agreed to arrange another one.

You're only going to make things more difficult for yourself by procrastinating. Although it may be hard to get started on planning your meeting, allow some extra time in case some of the arrangements don't work out. It will be much more enjoyable to be able to relax a bit before things get going than to be anxiously rushing around tending to last-minute chores that should have been taken care of earlier.

You're not shirking responsibility if you ask someone else to take the meeting's minutes for you. Remember that you don't have to do everything. Finding someone whose sole responsibility will be to take minutes will free you up to make sure that the meeting starts and ends on time, is well organized, and achieves its objectives. This way you'll have made everyone's life a lot easier and you'll also end up with a set of minutes that mean something.

Don't be afraid to move things along as appropriate if the meeting seems to be getting bogged down in one particular area. The other participants will be eager to finish on time and get on with the rest of their day, so, in your role as chair, shape the discussion and sustain the meeting's impetus.

Robert, Henry M., et al. Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised in Brief. New York: Da Capo Press, 2004.

it-analysis.com: www.it-analysis.com/article.php?articleid=3728and www.it-analysis.com/article.php?articleid=3729

MeetingWizard.org: www.meetingwizard.org