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Let’s stop meeting like this

by Kim on April 24th, 2006

I’ve alluded to the fact that a supervisor once told me that I don’t know how to hold a meeting. I was floored at the time…”what the heck does that mean?” I pondered…and then obsessed. What is there to get, you reserve a conference room, check everyone’s availability, gather, bs for a while and then get to work, right? Wrong.

If you do it that way, things get very confusing and chaotic….it happened to me yesterday, as I was holding a meeting with my illustrator and printer for a Pet Set project. We met at the designated time, and then everyone started talking. I probably should have put an agenda together, but we’ve been working together for a number of years, why do we need an agenda?

Well I’ll tell you…when you don’t, responsibilities are ambiguous, due dates are glossed over and important points are missed. These priorities are important whether you are running a project, a department or a business.

Prepare, conduct and follow-up…these are the 3 key elements of running a successful meeting, according to Jeffrey Phillips, at his blog–Thinking Faster. (click on “Meeting Management” on the right portion of the blog) where you can find the entire article on planning meetings.

I think what you’ll find (even if you are a seasoned meeting planner), is that your and your invitees will be more productive. It won’t feel as casual as your meetings may have been in the past. People will understand that there is work to be done and will leave the meeting knowing exactly what to do and who to follow-up with.

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