How to start a meeting
After working in the corporate world now for a couple of years, I have a new appreciation for the skill of running a meeting well. It’s not a matter of getting a few people together, sitting at the head of the table, saying, “So, what do we do?” and waiting for the solution to appear. A productive meeting is usually the result of preparation and an effective introduction.
I have participated in—and led—too many poor meetings. How do I know a meeting is a failure? At its conclusion, I open the door to leave and:
- I don’t have a clear sense of the next steps,
- I’m not sure of my responsibilities,
- I’m not sure why the meeting was called in the first place, or
- I’m not even sure what we just talked about. (worst case scenario)
The first step to heading such a meeting off at the pass is to prepare. Think. Pinpoint your goals for the meeting. What do you need to decide? What do you need to communicate? Anticipate what others will say. Write out the agenda items. Think some more.
Then, get yourself a fresh piece of paper. Start with the goal(s). This is the most important thing. Next, summarize the agenda into three to five points. I think it’s very effective if everyone has a road map for what’s coming. It’s good to write this up on the whiteboard or pass it out on an agenda. An item could be extremely general (”Discuss software plans”), but as long as it steers the meeting, it’s helping.
When you begin the meeting, clearly state the goal. Make it big and bold. People remember what’s said at the beginning of meetings, speeches, comedy routines, etc. Use that; put the most important thing first. The goal comes first.
Next, briefly go over the agenda, being careful not to let the meeting devolve into an actual discussion of any item at that point. Discussion comes later. This is the road map. Hey, you could be doing this entire overview in 20 seconds.
And then do the meeting. Making that run smoothly is for another post (or book).
p.s. This post was largely to remind me to prepare for meetings and to begin them properly. If anyone else benefits from my thoughts, so be it.
September 16th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
All good points.
Certainly some deviations or extras need to be thrown in from time to time. For example, to keep meetings short and to point, I was once told that to not let anyone sit down.
I’ve always wanted to try that.
September 23rd, 2005 at 2:40 pm
hello i see that you have a imagein the corner of the page, i want put one in my blog (i´m using wordpress)
I tried a code buf onli functions in firefox not in ie
http://5sugus.myazor.info
could yo help me?, whats the code of the css and html?
thanks
September 23rd, 2005 at 4:10 pm
Hmm, odd question to ask here! Anyhow, from my CSS file…
September 24th, 2005 at 7:59 am
thanks!
October 6th, 2005 at 9:10 pm
Good observations.
Here are some that have adhered to my mind, like the random accretions of sediment on the bottom of life’s lake:
1. Preparation for meetings does not always ensure success, but it makes you feel better(unless the preparation was at the expense of your mutually exclusive critical job tasks) Unfortunately, the “mandatory meeting in ten minutes” with the division chiefs on high-involvement corporate decisions exists as an opportunity to embarass rivals, for intelligent decisions seldom come from such “jack-rabbit” tactics. No, these are the favored tools of the workplace’s “hidden agenda jackals.”
2. Some meetings exist solely to validate the
importance of the chair (Hey! Look! I’m important — see, I’ve dragged all my minions to
the conference room to brief items that could easily have been emailed, but weren’t.). These are, in effect, “muster” meetings.
3. Beware, however, the co-workers who facetiously slam meetings as worthless — they are
worthless to them, because they are too busy scamming face-time with the REAL decision makers. These are the clowns who wait for the new boss to come in, and when it’s time for input, throw slime in your general direction. Nothing like ruining a first-impression, no?
December 5th, 2007 at 8:05 am
find a proper time a nd a good warming words.make sure you can bring everybodies attention.thats enoght good