Manage your Meetings

Have you ever left an hour meeting and felt like you had just wasted 60 minutes of your day? Meetings can be a BIG time waster if they are not planned and executed effectively. Consider some key elements for effective meetings:

• Have an agenda and stick to it. Make sure the agenda items are pertinent to the participants


• If you look at an agenda and the items don't relate to you, don't be afraid to ask to be excused


• Cancel ineffective or unnecessary meetings - especially reoccurring meetings


• Be selective with whom you invite to your meetings. Most people won't be upset if they are not invited. They have plenty to do without another meeting


• Have someone keep minutes of your meetings so you are not having the same meeting, where you are having the same discussions and making the same decisions.


• Don't be afraid to end a meeting early. If the agenda has been covered, adjourn.


• If your meeting is about to go over the time allotted, stop and plan another meeting to allow people to stick to their individual schedules.


• If your meetings seem to go too long because participants are long winded, have a "stand up" meeting where there are no chairs for people to sit down. You will be amazed at how quickly people will get down to business if they don't have a place to sit


• Make sure that if you are meeting to make a decision, that you actually make a clear decision before the end of the meeting


• Talk with those that you work with on how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your meetings. How can you improve?

It is estimated that most managers spend 50% of their time in meetings. If half of those meetings are ineffective, the cost to the manager AND the organization is quite significant.

Ringmaster-Do Your Job!

While on a flight yesterday I overheard the conversation behind me. A group of people were on their way to some type of conference. I'm not sure of the purpose of the conference, but it was part of their work responsibility. Here's the gist of the conversation. We'll call them Attendee 1 and Attendee 2:

Attendee 1: Do you know what we're supposed to do at this conference? What sessions do I have to go to?
Attendee 2: Well, you are required to go to the opening reception tonight, and tomorrow night they have a real neat off site dinner planned. I try to go to several of the sessions. Sometimes they are interesting. I normally sit in the back, and if they don't keep my interest I just leave.

I shuddered. Two people attending a conference, probably at the expense of the company, and one is clueless while the other's priority is a good meal. What a tremendous return on investment the company will get for sending these two people.

My question is, "Where is their manager, supervisor or boss in the equation?" If I were sending (or allowing) two people to go to a conference on company time, there are a few things I would do as their ringmaster to insure that the experience was of benefit to them and the company. They would include:

• Reviewing the agenda with the attendee. Most all conferences post their agenda, including breakout sessions, on their website. At least request it from the attendee even if you don't review it with them in person.
• Reflect on the best "acts" for the attendee. Review sessions that have will have content specific to the attendee's job responsibilities and/or company strategic interests. You don't have to choose all of them, but at least give them some guidance-especially if they have not attended a conference like this in the past.
• Remind them to take advantage of networking. So many good ideas at a conference come from table discussions at meals, breaks and at informal moments.
• Encourage them to enjoy some "self ring" time. If you are familiar with the area suggest an activity they could do during some of their free time-or direct them to someone who could be of help in knowing the local area. Web information is plentiful, but an individual's first hand experience is sometimes the most efficient way to garner insights.
• Follow up when they return. Talk with them about the experience. Let them share information from the conference that is of benefit to the company and their coworkers. Ask how, as their "ringmaster," you can help with any new directions or initiatives that grew out of the conference. Perhaps even set the follow up time with them PRIOR to their attendance at the conference. Accountablility in today's business climate is a necessity, not a luxury.

Conferences just offer too much benefit to an organization to be missed because a ringmaster didn't take the time to effectively prepare a performer for this act in their work ring.

Meetings-Wrong Act In The Lineup

A USA Today Snapshot on June 23 was related to meetings and productivity. The question was, "How would employee productivity be affected if your company banned meetings one day a week?" The responses were:

• More productive (45%)
• No change (46%)
• Less productive (7%)
• Don't know (2%)

There are two intriguing findings from their poll. One is the obvious result that 7% of respondents need meetings to get direction, etc. The other is that almost half the respondents said there would be no change in productivity with less meetings... kind of makes you wonder what they are currently doing with their discretionary time.

Banning meetings are a frequent solution given during training programs to improving productivity. If banning meetings are not an option (any day of the week), consider these ideas:

• Involve only those who have to be a part of the meeting. At the end of the meeting make a list of those individuals who need information from the meeting and who will communicate it to them.
• Limit meetings to 30 minutes or less. If items take longer than expected, form a smaller group of people who can take action on the item and work toward solutions.
• Have "stand up meetings." Don't allow participants to sit.
• Send out agendas prior to meeting. Let people know that if they have information that could eliminate the item or reduce the need to discuss it, they should provide it to you by a deadline prior to the meeting.

Going Topless!!!

Now that I have your attention. Been in a meeting recently where people were more engaged with their PDAs, phones or laptops than they were in the meeting? Thought so. It can be extremely frustrating. In response some companies have gone "topless" at meetings. No laptops during the discussions. Other companies have chosen to include IPhones and other personal devices that are so common in the workplace.

The article brings out several critical points both pro/con for the idea. They include:

• Partial attention due to using the devices during the meeting leads to partial results.


• Using the devices has created a mindset of "continuous partial attention." There is no point at which one is fully engaged in just one event or activity.


• Etiquette has not kept up with technology.


• The root problem may be that people just hate meetings.

Read the entire article at http://www.mercurynews.com//ci_8688897?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com