Last Updated on March 5, 2024
Love them or hate, meetings are an integral part of business life and considered as an effective business communication tool either to let employees know their duties or to sort out various business-related issues.
Effective business meetings bring everyone on the same page and let them know what should be completed and how. Productive meetings always have strong leadership from business management and the responsible person for holding the meeting to guide and direct about the meeting criteria and basics efficiently.
Here in this article, we have listed some proven tips to more productive business meetings that can help you to be more productive during the meeting without losing focus.
Make your objective Clear
A business meeting must have a clear and specific objective as not setting the meeting objective or purpose can set you and the attendees on a wild-goose chase. A meeting objective should be based on a clear purpose that can easily be attained within the set time frame.
Whether you want to accomplish something productivity related in your meeting, want people to make changes in the management, looking for an apt solution for a problem your company is seeking or simply you want to decide things on a business matter, keep the objective of your meeting clear to conduct a productive meeting effectively.
Meet Outside the Office
If you really don’t want to see tired faces and low energy levels during your business meetings, it is the time to organize meetings outside the business or office. An off-site meeting session can provide your employees with an opportunity to discuss business matter in an independent and pleasing environment.
For this purpose, you can take your employees to a café or restaurant near your business or can book a professional meeting space. In this advanced era of life, a business can conveniently book meeting rooms online without visiting the location personally.
According to the experts, outside meetings are found more productive and result driven than meetings organized within the business or office.
Be Prepared
Ahead of time preparation is one of the keys to success. That is the reason, prepare an agenda and distribute among all the attendees.
A meeting agenda should include things like a brief list of topics to be discussed, description of meeting objective, names of meeting attendees, time dedicated for each topic or subject, time and location of meeting etc.
It will help the meeting attendees to participate in the meeting accordingly to reach productive outcomes without getting out of time.
Make a List of Attendees
One should spend enough time on deciding the meeting attendees before calling for a meeting. Make a list of attendees and include it in the meeting agenda to let others know who else will be attending the meeting.
If you need to make some changes in the meeting plan or agenda, be sure to call the people who will be affected by the meeting call and changes made in the meeting plan. Also, be sure to invite most relevant people in the meeting as if the topic to be discussed is irrelevant for them, they will consider the meeting as a total waste of time.
Stick to the Meeting Schedule/Agenda
Sticking with the meeting agenda or schedule is the best way to make your meeting productive and result driven. Make sure all the attendees will follow the timeline stated in the agenda and remind them if they are going out of the topic or subject. You should also send every meeting attendee with an agenda to keep them focused during the meeting.
Manage the Meeting by The Clock
Watching the clock is one of the vital aspects of an effective meeting. Attendees become careless and unfocused when nobody takes charge of watching the clock during a meeting.
Ask the attendees to start and end promptly. It will help you end the meeting as per mentioned timeline in the agenda. As 60 minutes (1 hour) is the longest time meeting attendees can remain engaged, try to keep your meetings short and engaging to get desired outcomes.
Turn the Notifications Off
As mobile vices like smartphones, iPads and tablets are usually ringing all the time when connected with the internet, make sure to turn the notification off during the meeting in order to keep all the attendees focused on the meeting objectives instead of their social media accounts.
People with mobile devices in their hands wouldn’t be focusing on the meeting agenda and objectives. That is the reason, ban technology in the meeting or ask them to turn the notification off while entering into the meeting room.