Do you need ideas to make your meetings more efficient? Here are some ideas that I’ve collected along the way. I do not claim that they are my ideas and I have not tried all of them. Have fun!
- Conduct meeting without tables and chairs aka standing up – studies show meeting times will be cut in half!
- Money jar for late comers or no-shows – make it hurt (financially) to be late or miss a meeting, use that money to buy the team beer or donate to charity
- Take a moment of silence after a major decision – reflect on decision, give time for last minute objections, let the commitment sink in really good
- Put a clock on the wall – meetings should begin and definitely end on time
- Assign a note taker – the meeting chair needs to run the meeting while someone else takes notes, hard to do both
- Divide up a large block of meeting time (with same people) into smaller chunks – helps guide the agenda and keeps the meeting going
- Enforce a “no meeting” time period or day – seriously, there needs to be time to do work, come on people!
- Provide food – attendance will be good, also many will pay more attention (while eating) instead of typing on their laptops
- Clarify participant roles in invite – sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s not, provide some context, maybe it’ll help form the agenda easier
- Bonus: If the meeting requires 6+ people or more than an hour, the CEO is notified – one company did this, the theory is that a meeting of that size or time length should really damn important, I wonder if the company is still around, does anyone know?
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