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Meetings

5 secrets for more efficient meetings

BusinessEdward Kiledjian
Image by Nguyen Hung Vu used under Creative Commons License

Image by Nguyen Hung Vu used under Creative Commons License

Everyone loves meetings... Right? Of course you do. Nothing is more enjoyable than meeting 6 other people to go through a 120 slide powerpoint presentation in a far flung conference room. Fun ... Fun ... Fun ...

Joking aside, meetings are a necessary evil in the business world so productivity junkies are always testing new strategies to make them more effective. After 20+ years of searching, the core tenets for efficient meetings can be boiled down to a measly 5 bullets and have the main title of "Be Prepared".

Without further ado, I present the 5 magical tenets of efficient meetings:

  1. Book in advance - Unless you have an urgent issue which magically pops up, try to book all of your meetings a couple of days in advance. During my friday weekly review (Link), I make sure all of my meeting invitations are sent out for the following week. 
  2. Create an agenda - Every meeting should have a clearly defined agenda with clear expectations from each participant
  3. Make material available - Make sure any material you will use during the meeting is distributed ahead of time and that participants understand how to process it before the meeting.
  4. Define the expected outcome - The agenda should include the expected outcome from the meeting. This goal should be repeated at the start of the meeting to ensure everyone is working towards the same goal.
  5. Book a meeting room - This may sound very basic as a rule but you wouldn't believe the number of times a meeting room isn't booked or you show up to the room and someone else is using it or the meeting room is too small or ill equipped for meeting.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
— Benjamin Franklin

Virtual Meeting Etiquette

ProductivityEdward Kiledjian

We are living in a global just-in-time community where more and more of our meetings are held in cyberspace. This new reality is sometimes drive by cost and other times but convenience. Regardless of the business drivers, it requires an entirely new approach.

In real estate, the most important quality is location, location, location. In the world of virtual meetings, it is communication, communication, communication. To have efficient communication, you need trust and your remote participants need to feel like part of the team.  This article will share some ideas on how to improve your virtual meeting etiquette …

  • Don’t forget your remote participants. I can’t tell you how many times meeting organizers forget their virtual teammates.
  • When during mixed meetings with onsite and remote participants, make sure you give all remote participants a chance to talk. It is a good idea to make the remote participants pass first or mix one remote then one onsite.
  • Remember that you can’t pass documentation to your virtual participants so make sure you send it to them early enough so they can print and /or review the material.
  • Each person who speaks (remote or onsite) should first identify themselves.
  • If your company has an instant messaging tool, it is a great idea to setup a group chat session in case remote participants are unable to jump into the conversation. Some conference bridges won’t let a remote participant interrupt the chairperson (basically anyone who is sitting with you).
  • If your participants are spread across our big blue marble, then be a good host and try to accommodate most participants (as it related to time zone). If this is a one time meeting then try to schedule it during the business day for most participants.  If it is a recurring meeting then may be switch the meeting times each meeting to accommodate the different groups .
  • Remember that remote employees don’t see physical mannerisms so avoid saying something that can be misconstrued. If dealing with an international audience, avoid regional slang and use basic business professional language.