Did you know that a manager spends an average of 18 hours per week for meetings, and meetings can be a waste of time or a waste of money if they are not planned effectively? Such a long time to waste huh? So let’s learn more about how to make meetings effective and efficient!

1. Set a Clear Goal

Before setting a meeting ask yourself, what is the goal of this meeting? What do you want to achieve or solve? The goal may be creating new ideas, making a decision, gathering information or whatever you need. The only rule is the goal should be clear and measurable.

2. Create an agenda

You can list all the topics that need to be discussed and share them with the participants. It will help you to set the duration of the meeting and give the opportunity to the participants to prepare before the meeting.

3. Choose correct participants

Choose wisely while inviting the participants. You can ask yourself “who really needs to be there?”. One of the commons mistakes is inviting people who only need to be informed about the final decisions. You can always share the meeting notes with them after the meeting.

4. Remove Unnecessary Devices

Laptops, mobile phones and tablets should be silenced and removed from the table if they are not crucial for the meeting. These devices create distraction more than they make things easier. Encourage the participant to take notes by hand. Papers and pens cannot distract them with mails, messages and tones of other notifications.

5. Take Notes

Take notes including a summary of topics discussed and the action plan chosen to be followed. If you are leading the meeting you can give the task to another participant. Send the note to all participants afterwards.

Effective meetings notes should include the date, list of participants, key topics discussed, actions taken and/or decisions made during the meeting.

Want to give your employees a chance to learn how to set effective meetings? Our Leadership & Management collection also includes an Effective Meetings course to show the way to achieve your goals via meetings without wasting unnecessary time and money.

To see the course for yourself, request a free trial and access COBIDULIBRARY for free without any obligations.