Whether it’s with your team, a client, a vendor or someone else – meetings can waste a lot of time and suck a lot of energy from us. So, what can we do to achieve more efficient and productive meetings?
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Common problems include:
- time wasted trying to find a time when you can all meet
- going off topic
- taking too long discussing one topic
- time wasted explaining things
- forgetting what was discussed
- action not being taken after the meeting.
Use ScheduleOnce
Our CEO – Mary uses this and it has definitely simplified things! Instead of sending endless emails back and forth, trying to find a good day and time to meet with someone, Mary sends them a link to her GoMeetMe account.
It allows people to see Mary’s available slots of time and lets them book in. Mary then confirms. Simple!
People can select the length of time they want (you can suggest a time in your initial email) and see which times are available. All this without having access to Mary’s google calendar.
Find ScheduleOnce HERE
Set an agenda and send it out to attendees in advance.
It will set expectations and keep everyone on track and on time. It also means that if someone thinks something important has been missed, it can be added to the agenda and factored in without having the meeting run unexpectedly late on the day.
You can also send relevant reports or information for other people to read in advance. This will cut down the time you spend explaining things to people in the meeting.
Follow up with an email confirming what was agreed.
We try to have someone take meeting minutes whenever possible but it’s not always an option. Also, depending on the type of meeting, detailed notes aren’t always necessary.
However, it is VERY easy to forget things that have been agreed and actions that need to be taken. When we don’t take minutes, we usually follow up the meeting with an email to the other attendees with bullet points of what we agreed upon.
This way, everyone knows what they’re responsible for. Ideas aren’t just agreed upon – they become tasks that are assigned to someone who will make it happen, plus if there is any disagreement or someone is unsure, there is something to look back at.
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