Meetings suck. And since the pandemic, people are spending a lot more time in meetings. How much is a lot? About 250%.

If anything takes 2.5x longer than it normally does we change it immediately.

Especially if it yields the same result.

All that said, it’s simple to host great meetings. (Or as close to great as a meetings can be!) The best part is that great meetings are all about preparation. Putting in a bit of solo effort in prior to a meeting pays dividends.

There are three elements to this:

1. Ensure the meeting is required

2. Provide meeting purpose and agenda

3. Make sure the right people are in the room

These three elements are especially relevant now that many meetings are virtual.

Ensure the meeting is required

I once attended a meeting that involved two people making a decision without needing input from the other six attendees. Instead of a short call between two people, six of us were tied up for an hour while the decision-makers tried to make their choice.

As a meeting organizer ask yourself “Is this meeting necessary?” prior to sending the invite. Or, “Can I accomplish the same goal with a phone call?” If you are confident that a meeting is required, schedule it. When meeting attendees feel that a meeting is necessary, they are more likely to engage and participate.

Provide an agenda

Once you determine a meeting is necessary develop an agenda including:

1. Meeting purpose

2. 3-5 high-level points

Be sure to include these in your initial meeting invitation.

The agenda is used to establish the meeting’s timeframe, items to be covered, and most importantly, the meeting’s purpose. Purpose is the key to working in teams: a clearly defined goal is crucial to any team’s overall success—meetings are no different. Providing an agenda also allows attendees to gather relevant information beforehand.

An added bonus of an agenda is that it can be used as a facilitation tool to stay on topic during a meeting, especially for those who are less comfortable facilitating.

Get the right people in the room

Too often meeting organizers err on the side of caution, inviting those only remotely associated with the meeting topic. Too many attendees not participating can impede participation by those who have contributions to make: inertia of inaction is difficult to overcome. Instead, think critically about keeping the meeting small. 

Solicit input from minor stakeholders prior to the meeting (rather than inviting them) to create value by ensuring more, high-quality input from fewer people. You’ll get more engagement from those who are at the meeting by ensuring that all attendees can contribute.

This can sometimes be a tricky mental exercise. It may help to ask yourself why you’re inviting each attendee. Putting yourself in their shoes, would their response to the invitation be “Ugh, why was I invited to this”? If so, strike them from the list!

I’ve used these three elements to refine my meeting facilitation style - and I’ve been rated 10/10. (Yes! I have surveyed coworkers on my facilitation style.)

This method has also saved me time: I’ve realized more than once while writing a purpose & agenda that a quick phone call with a single individual would do, rather than a meeting with several.

Thanks for reading this week! And as always, I’m here to help make work easier and less frustrating.