Conducting Effective Meetings

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Conducting Effective Meetings

• Barbara Spencer
• College of Business and Industry
• Mississippi State University

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Agenda

• Warm-up
• Planning the meeting
• Conducting the meeting
• Building a strong sense of team
• Reaching meeting objectives

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Why do people hate meetings?
More than 80 of all meetings waste time!
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Planning a Worthwhile Meeting
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Planning the Meeting

• Why am I calling this meeting?
• Who should I invite?
• What should I cover?
• How shall I communicate?
• Where will we meet?
• When will we meet?

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Prepare a Written Agenda with Clear Starting and
Ending Times

• Objectives of meeting (2 min)
• Introductions or warm-up (10 min)
• Status reports (5 minutes)
• Main Topics for discussion (30 min)
• Assignments for follow-up activities (5 min)
• Upcoming events, activities, etc. (3 min)
• Next meeting? Time, place, agenda (5 min)

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Final Tips for Planning a Great Meeting

• Plan to solve a problem--not hold a meeting.
• Use the meeting as a tool.
• Pick each member as a resource.

• Build an agenda with specific times for each
  topic.
• Put your agenda in writing and pass it out.
• Adapt your leadership style to fit the type of
  meeting.

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Conducting a Great Meeting
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What is the Role of the Meeting Leader?

• Keep the discussion focused on the topic
• Intervene if the discussion fragments
• Prevent anyone from dominating
• Draw in shy people
• Bring discussions to a close
• Reach the meeting objectives!!!

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Common Problems in Team Meetings...

• Floundering and tangents
• Overbearing participants
• Reluctant participants
• Unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts
• Rush to accomplishment
• Attribution
• Discounts and plops
• Feuding members

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Practice
How would you handle these common problem
situations?
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Some General Guidelines for Handling Problem
Situations

• Dont take problems personally.
• Dont get caught in one-to-one power struggles.
• Use good natured humor.
• Connect on a personal level.
• Broaden the participation of others.
• Protect participants as needed.

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Building a Strong Team
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Practice

• What makes a great team?

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Based on our discussion of great teams, what can
you do to make people in your meeting feel like
part of a team?
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SAMPLE GROUND RULES FOR MEETINGS

• A meeting agenda will be provided by the person
  who called the meeting.
• The meeting will start and end on time.
• A scribe will be appointed to take notes.
• Following the meeting, the leader will publish a
  meeting summary, with actions agreed upon.
• Professionalism, respect, and openness are
  expected.

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Reaching Meeting Objectives
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Build a bridge from the meeting to the goal...

• Write an action plan with assignments, due dates,
  person responsible.
• Publish a meeting summary, with actions agreed
  upon, at the conclusion of the meeting.

• Allow time for final questions, discussion.
• Set the basic agenda, the time, and the place for
  the next meeting!