If your meetings feel like a lot is being said, but your goals are never really accomplished, you are in very good company. Approximately $37 billion USD is lost each and every year to unproductive meetings alone. When you consider how much of that $37 billion is potentially due to your business’ meetings, one could hardly blame you for being sick about it.
Let’s take a look at a few ways that you can make the most of the time you spend in meetings.
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Meet with Purpose
Make sure you identify the purpose of all your meetings and ensure your agenda reflects it. The first qualification for holding a meeting is having a goal to justify it. If so, be sure to get it on the calendar. If not, refrain from doing so.
Invite on a “Need to Know” Basis
The more people involved in a meeting, the more likely it is to be waylaid and sidetracked by other concerns. Keeping the attendee list strictly to those who need to be there helps keep the group small, minimizing the chance of the meeting veering off focus.
Be Prepared to Table Other Considerations
On a related note, some off-topic concerns are bound to be valid points to consider, despite their irrelevance to the topic at hand. If/when these questions are raised, politely steer the conversation back to its planned trajectory and make a note to revisit these concerns at another time.
Using Technology to Your Advantage
Test Your Tech Before You Start
So, you’ve prepared a pretty spectacular presentation to run during the meeting—one that perfectly summarizes the points you are trying to make. To avoid the presentation crashing and burning due to an IT issue, prioritize taking a few minutes before your meeting begins to confirm that all the tech you’ll rely on is, in fact, reliable. This gives you the chance to pivot should something not work and save face in front of the group.
Keep Your Desktop Organized
You are giving a presentation, so it pays to keep your desktop presentable. Sort your documents into clearly labelled folders that demonstrate your professionalism, should you need to switch applications or otherwise reveal your desktop.
Prevent Disruptions Via Do Not Disturb
It would be a real shame if all the time and effort you put into preparing a great presentation were sullied by a poorly timed notification. You can keep this from happening by opening the menu in the system tray that opens the calendar. This menu also allows you to check your notifications and—pertinent to this discussion—stop new ones from coming in via the Do Not Disturb setting.
Involve All Attendees
With the popularity of hybrid work environments, it is more common than ever to need to present to people both in the room with you and those viewing your presentation remotely. Make sure you don’t neglect those in the latter group, and that you use the tools at your disposal (like chats) to actively engage with those not in the room.
Keeping Your Meetings Secure
Keep the Invite Link Private
Workplace meetings often involve sensitive information being shared amongst the team… not the time to have some random person sitting in and listening to all your discussions. While this is easier to avoid in the office (people would probably notice if a stranger were sitting at the conference table, after all), it can be harder to notice when working remotely. To prevent this, ensure the meeting link is accessible only to those who need it for their role. Don’t share it on social media; use your internal communication tools to send the invite exclusively to those who need it.
Vet Attendees in a Waiting Room
On a related note, before you start your meeting, make sure all attendees can access the meeting space only after you’ve approved their presence. This helps prevent leaked links from spreading data and other information when someone is in a meeting where they shouldn’t be.
Ending with Purpose
Summarize What You’ve Covered
Save the last few minutes of your meetings to pause and circle back on what has been accomplished, assign appropriate tasks to each participant, and clarify all action items. This helps ensure that the most important information is the freshest and that all attendees can proceed with their individual responsibilities.
Maintain a Paper Trail
Whether you use an AI-generated transcript or manually take notes in a shared document, keeping track of what has been discussed and dispersing it amongst a meeting’s participants can help keep everything on track and top of mind. This allows you to be more confident that important tasks are being handled.
We’re Here to Help You Make Your Meetings as Productive as Possible
We work with businesses in and around the Wichita Metro and the Southcentral Kansas to ensure their tech is the asset it is meant to be, including all the tools for communicating and collaborating as effectively as possible. Reach out to us to learn how we can help you accomplish this by calling (316) 440-8282.
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