‘No man is an island’ is a quote often used to describe someone’s emotional purpose. You need other people to love, live, and exist. So this sentence can apply to the business world, too, since success most often comes from teamwork. You need colleagues, associates, and business partners who will help develop and realize your idea.
A successful business has become unthinkable without regular business meetings as one of the forms of communication. These sessions are vital to solve problems, see potential opportunities and make the right decisions. That is why they are critical elements of a successful information flow and quality management of the company.
Face-to-face business sessions (even when online) take advantage of phone or email correspondence. This kind of communication is open and precise, and with an effective meeting agenda, there is no wasting time. Everyone should understand the outcomes and not being left with any loose ends after the meeting. So if you want to get the most out of these gatherings, these tips will make sure your business sessions go off without a hitch.
Set Clear Agenda
Every business meeting must be held with good reason. Otherwise, you are wasting both your own and your colleagues’ time. Without a prepared agenda, your gathering can become an informal gathering from which nothing significant will result, except for a little time you spent in an optional chat.
Save those chit-chats for after work and have a prepared agenda for the conference that you will adhere to. You can write it on a whiteboard, print it out on paper for each colleague present, or have a short presentation at the beginning to introduce the attendees to the topic and plan of the meeting.
If you ensure there are no trivial items on the agenda, your participants will appreciate this. They will have fewer unnecessary things to discuss, and you’ll have more time to tackle those crucial issues. Also, you’ll avoid unnecessary costs if the meeting turns into a casual gathering.
Inform Participants on Time
Most successful companies, regardless of size and area of business, have weekly briefs. These gatherings serve for regular business check-ups, updates, and reporting. This routine is good, as there is generally no need for sudden meetings where people come unprepared.
If you need a brief outside the regular schedule, make sure to inform teammates on time. So another great tip is to make sure you have notes available for everyone in the meeting. This way, everyone knows what to bring and what needs to be discussed.
Make sure you keep the information relevant to the topic at hand. The less detail you give people, the more likely you’ll miss out on opportunities for discussion. But when attendees know what to expect, they’ll be able to contribute, answer questions, and deal with any problems that arise.
Be Clear and Concise
When making an agenda, prepare to discuss only those issues of high importance to the company. That will help you set the meeting length. It really shouldn’t be longer than 20 minutes. Too long meetings are useless, as sitting with colleagues in a conference room and chatting about tonight’s game is not a path toward increased productivity.
Stick to the plan and discuss agenda points one by one. These should be related to the same business topic. You don’t want to waste your colleagues’ time by bringing up unimportant issues or pressing matters that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Make an easy-to-follow document, be clear in your statements, and don’t hide problems if they exist. And always adhere to the scheduled – start and end the meeting on time. Keep in mind that business gathering has to be productive and profitable, too.
Engage Participants
Try to make the most out of your and your teammates’ time. One of the worst things that can happen during meetings is the participants become bored. When that happens, the entire session can become less productive. So find a way to make them active cooperators.
Make sure you schedule enough time during the meeting to get everyone involved. There’s nothing more frustrating for people than sitting in a meeting room and spending most of the time silent. So you should get everyone to take part in some activity. If you have a project to resolve, break it up into smaller tasks and give everyone a chance to learn about it without worrying about their parts.
Encourage people to share their ideas with you. Ask questions when you need answers or second thoughts. Even if you don’t get the information you want, some other ideas can come from wrong or partial answers. As seen on this link, brainstorming is an excellent method for generating business ideas on any topic.
Make Your Point
Intelligent people have a reputation for speaking fast and often. That’s fine if they know what they’re talking about. But the goal of a productive meeting is not to drown teammates with a bunch of useless information. Instead, you have to make your point and end the gathering with a clear action plan.
You have to get your points across in short paragraphs or bullet points. That will help people focus, and you’ll receive a much better reception since the meeting will run much more smoothly. The result should be an action plan with clear guidelines for everyone involved.
Also, leave a few minutes for briefs on the next steps. That’s something like an introduction to the next meeting. That will keep your colleagues up-to-date with the business topic and give them time to prepare for further action. It is a good idea to send emails with some key points from this session to colleagues.
Meetings should always be attended by all those directly involved in the topic. Anything more than that can easily turn into unnecessary chatter and a waste of time. So keep these tips on making corporate meetings more productive in mind. That way, you’ll slowly but surely pave the route to business success.
