Avoid Meetings Whenever Possible
For the most part, a good meeting is one that didn’t happen. By anticipating and preparing as much as you can for an appointment or meeting, you can often avoid them completely and save precious time for everyone involved, not to mention the time and cost of traveling to get there.
Most meetings are for one of these three purposes:
Negotiation or approval of proposed solutions
Consultation
Information
While it’s tough to avoid the first kind, the second type of meeting can be done over email, as long as you state your requests and set out solutions clearly.
On the other hand, if a meeting is purely for information purposes, try to nip it in the bud. If it’s a meeting you’re running yourself, just make a video commentary of your presentation (with screen captures—QuickTime works well for this), email the link to participants, and ask them to confirm once they’ve watched it and send any feedback via a Google Form or Type Form link.
I never schedule meetings in the morning, and never for longer than 45 minutes. I’m also constantly questioning whether a meeting is necessary. - Lawrence, Training Manager
Be Prepared for Your Meeting
If you want your meeting to be as effective as possible, take these steps beforehand:
Make an agenda for the meeting, or if there isn’t one, decline the invitation (if you can).
Set one or two SMART goals per meeting, but no more, or it becomes a workshop.
Question the point of the meeting; ask yourself whether a video commentary and a Google Form would suffice.
Send participants information or requests for information ahead of time so that any questions or issues can be raised beforehand via email.
Run an Effective Meeting
Next, apply these best practices on the day of the meeting:
If you are running the meeting, arrive early to test the equipment.
Send your colleagues a reminder one hour in advance so they arrive on time.
Allow only one screen in the room when possible (you can ban or confiscate devices if needed).
No more than six to eight attendees.
Keep the meeting to 30 minutes maximum; if it’s under 15 minutes, make it a stand-up meeting.
Talking stick: whoever is holding the stick (or ball, pen, etc.) has to speak and give their opinion (for no more than five minutes). No one can interrupt until they pass the stick, and no one can speak unless holding the stick (incredibly efficient, but may eat up more time than initially allotted).
Let’s Recap!
As much as possible, avoid meetings for purely informative purposes. Instead, suggest making a video commentary of the presentation and having people give feedback after watching.
Question the point of meetings. Ask for an agenda and one or two specific goals.
If you are running the meeting, send your colleagues reminders in advance and arrive early to test and install any equipment.
Try to limit the number of participants to six or eight people and the duration to 30 minutes.
Use a “talking stick” to prevent the meeting from becoming a debate and eating up too much time.
That’s the end of this part of the course on working with a team. But don’t stop now! Take this quiz before moving on to the next part of the course, where we’ll be talking about automation.
