How to organize and make effective work meetings

If you want to find out how to make company meetings that are truly effective, we recommend that you immediately consider our practical tips below, which will help you maximize all the resources available, drawing as many benefits as possible. Ready? Let’s start!

1- Organize meetings only in the presence of real needs

In the vast majority of cases, meetings that are too long, chaotic and without specific purposes are absolutely inconclusive because they can hardly ever demonstrate a level of efficiency and effectiveness that allows managers to keep costs down and participants to maintain the right level of systemic attention to achieving common goals. To avoid this kind of problem it is therefore important to always set up really essential meetings, during which topics are dealt with a concrete relevance.

2- Set goals before the meeting

To succeed in this you must establish in advance if you need …

• Meetings with the staff: meetings with fixed intervals that are usually carried out between a superior and his collaborators (e.g. once a week for 1-2 hours) to share information, analyze the status of projects, schedule activities, propose innovative solutions, etc.
• Ad hoc meetings: gatherings in which, in general, problems, unforeseen events and possible crisis situations are resolved in random days-hours depending on the actual needs.

Once you understand the type of meeting to be coordinated, you can proceed in a standard way, optimizing the individual activities to be carried out (identification of the participants, definition of the logistical aspects, establishment of the agenda, etc.) to waste as little time and resources as possible.

3- Organize a meeting agenda and share it with those who participate

This tool is absolutely essential above all to define in advance factors such as, for example, the topics to be discussed, the timing of discussion of the individual arguments, etc. Following the agenda to the letter, it is possible to dedicate the right space to all the issues and to avoid dealing with non-priority topics.

4- Take advantage of the IT tools at your disposal

Some solutions like those proposed by Google, IBM, Microsoft, etc. allow organizers and participants of a company meeting to obtain identifiable concrete advantages, for example, in the immediate possibility of …

• Check the availability of the guests;
• Identify an environment in which to find oneself;
• Specify the necessary tools (projectors, blackboards, etc.);
• Use video conferencing systems;
• Share the material with everyone present.

If you choose to simplify the organization of meetings using these kinds of tools, be careful never to create “hyper-tech meetings”, because any form of exaggeration risks making you stumble into ridicule.

5- Identify participants with care

The most productive meetings are those in which the few people present can really make a significant contribution: thus avoiding in the bud all the meetings full of participants that have nothing to say and focus only on the really essential pawns.

6- Manage time correctly

If the primary purpose of your meeting is to deal with a series of specific topics, you must necessarily establish and respect precise deadlines to devote to each single topic: scanned situations that allow you to face one issue at a time, without neglecting anything. In addition to this, it also pays great attention to the opening and closing phases of the meeting: in the first case make sure there are no latecomers so as to avoid that what was said at the beginning should then be repeated again, while in the second you do everything possible to transform the oral considerations in concrete actions, capable of guaranteeing effective feedback in the short term.

7- Consider the opinions of all participants

Before deciding what to do on a certain issue, listen to the opinion of all the members present at the meeting, leaving space also and above all to the so-called “divergent thoughts” of the most creative, from which assessments, reasoning and ideas capable of flowing into a series of constructive intuitions, designed to solve any problems or improve certain situations.

8- Eliminate any distraction

Wanted or not, a successful meeting always requires the highest level of attention from the participants, therefore, if you want to avoid distractions of any kind, ask those present to turn off or silence all the tablets, smartphones, laptops, etc. In this way, in addition to obtaining a greater level of concentration on the part of the entire group, you will also be able to minimize the unnecessary loss of time caused by inattention and various repetitions.

9- Draw up a report of the meeting

A sort of real reminder to be shared with those who participate in your meeting, which allows everyone to remember in a simple and immediate way the single arguments discussed, without the possibility of losing any important concept. Regardless of whether the report is drafted during the meeting or immediately thereafter, it must still be made immediately available to interested parties.

10- Set up a comfortable environment in which to meet

If you want to get the maximum level of attention from your staff, you need to find a meeting place where, in addition to being present places for all the participants and the necessary tools (microphones, projectors, etc.), there are also comforts such as, for example, snacks and drinks, heating in the winter-air conditioner in summer, etc.

These are our 10 golden rules for organizing business meetings that can be truly effective: meeting moments aimed at achieving new growth goals, day by day.