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It’s Only Common Sense: The Art of the Meeting

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many have had more meetings than ever. I thought it would be a good time to get back to the basics of running an effective and productive meeting. We have all become too familiar with platforms, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and a whole slew of others. I certainly am not qualified to discuss which are the best or worst services. What does interest me, however, is how to manage a meeting, whether it’s live and in-person or on your computer. Here are 16 guidelines for running a successful meeting.

1. Confirm that everyone received the meeting invitation and will be there. Send reminders at least two times after the initial invite. Also, ensure that that the meeting link is included on all reminders for the meeting. There is nothing worse than getting a meeting reminder and having to wade through a whole string of emails to find the link.
2. Make sure you really need a meeting. This is not as obvious as it sounds. Is what you are going to discuss so important that you have to hold up 2–14 people for 30 minutes or more, interrupting their workflow to spend time with you? It had better be important.
3. Schedule the meeting for a time that everyone can make. Here is a hint: If you want the meeting to be short, sweet, and to the point, schedule it 30 minutes before lunch, and you’ll get significantly more accomplished. If you want to make sure that no one will show up, schedule the meeting for 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon in July. There is a strategy involved based on when the meeting is scheduled.
4. Set a goal for the meeting. What do you want to accomplish by bringing all these people together?
5. Set an agenda that includes not only the items to be covered but also the goal of the meeting. Send the agenda out beforehand so that everyone attending the meeting will be prepared to discuss what they need to discuss.
6. Does everyone need to be at the meeting? Make sure that everyone needs to be there and determine why they need to be there.
7. Start the meeting on time. This is especially true if it is a regular meeting. Get people in the habit of arriving ahead of time so that you can start on time.
8. Set a certain amount of time for the meeting. You can even add time-allotments for each agenda item, and then end the meeting when you promised to do so.
9. Avoid rat holes. If a discussion starts to go too long for its allotted time, set up another meeting to discuss that particular topic. Do not let anyone highjack your meeting by taking a subject down a proverbial rat hole of no return.
10. Avoid pontificators (long-talkers) who love nothing more than go off on their favorite subject for hours at a time. This is the most counter-productive thing that can happen to your meeting, and it’s up to you to squelch this. Also, make sure you are not the pontificator!
11. Make sure the meeting moves at a brisk rate. Don’t let it get bogged down. As the meeting leader, the pace of the meeting is up to you.
12.  Always try to include everyone. Make sure everyone is heard. And if someone is not speaking up, call on them and get their opinion. It is better that they speak up now rather than be unhappy later.
13. Make assignments with dates. The success and results of the meeting will be determined by making these assignments. Make sure that all actions are listed, defined, and assigned with completion dates. This is one of the most important aspects of the meeting.
14. If a follow-up meeting is required, make sure that the date is determined before the meeting is adjourned.
15. End the meeting with a verbal summary of what took place, including the decisions made and the actions assigned. Get the consensus of everyone who attended the meeting that you are going in the right direction before the meeting ends.
16. Follow up the meeting with a summary. This should list all the decisions and, most importantly, the actions that must be completed.

And one last tip, in the spirit of under-promising and over-delivering. If it's a regular meeting, make sure that you always hold the meeting, even if it feels like there is not much to discuss this time. Consistency is the key to success, so always consistently hold the meetings as planned.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.