The Dos and Don’ts of Effective Meeting Management
Meetings are important for any organisation. They help make decisions that contribute to your organisation’s growth. However, not all meetings are effective. According to a recent report, on average, professionals worldwide waste two hours a week in pointless meetings.
Since meetings involve the time of various people, they should be effective. Whether you are running a meeting for the first time or you have conducted meetings before, make sure that everything is prepared.
Here are some dos and don’ts of effective meetings that can help you make your meetings meaningful.
1. Do prepare
An effective meeting is well-structured. A meeting without a clear objective means wasting team members time that could otherwise be spent on more productive tasks.
To prepare for your meetings:
• Set up an agenda: create a well-designed agenda mentioning the action items and the person responsible for each action item.
• Distribute the agenda in advance: once you have created your agenda, share it with your team members ahead of the meeting. This will enable your team to understand the purpose of the meeting and come prepared.
2. Do leverage useful tools
Technology has benefited businesses significantly. Although many organisations and clubs still rely on manual meeting management processes, an automated solution can help save time, money and effort in preparing and managing meetings.
Online meeting software like meetingTRAC offers complete meeting management solutions – such as quick scheduling of meetings, creation and distribution of agendas and minutes, easy follow-ups and automated task reminders, enabling you to focus on what matters most in your club.
3. Don’t invite everyone
Meetings with too many people get off track. Research from Stanford University suggests that no more than seven people should be invited to a meeting. The effectiveness of a meeting declines rapidly when more than seven people are involved.
Ahead of the meeting:
• Send an invite to team members who are to be involved in the meeting
• Only invite people who can contribute to what is on the agenda
4. Don’t limit the communication
The key to an effective meeting is participation from each team member. However, engagement can be affected if you fail to create an environment with open communication.
To create an environment of effective communication:
• Encourage participation from each attendee
• Build trust in the meeting room and invite creative ideas
meetingTRAC for efficient meeting management
meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in real time.
meetingTRAC lightens the load on clubs, businesses, volunteers and community groups by saving time, reducing stress and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running and reporting on meetings.
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Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.
