Secrets of Successful Meetings

Corporate meetings tend to come in two flavours – effective, and ineffective.

Professionals who have spent their time in both, will attest that when it comes to meetings, the length of a meeting doesn’t have any relation to its quality or effectiveness.

So, while pleasantries and chit chat can be essential to brining everyone close together – there’s time and place to team bonding, and business meetings should be reserved for just that, business.

Secret 1: Skip the snacks, water only

Raiding the office pantry and having snacks in the meeting, may be a fantastic way of having everyone look forward to your weekly meetings – but it’s also the fastest way to ensure your meeting will be derailed before it even gets started. Keep your focus on the results you want from your meeting, not on everyone’s happiness.

Remember, if given a choice, most people involved in the meeting would rather get their work done sooner, so they can leave work on time and spend time with family and friends – rather than feeling good at a lengthy meeting, only to get back to their desks with work that’s piled up while they’ve been away.

Skip the snacks and serve only plain water. Keep everyone focused on what’s important – the outcome.

Secret 2: Have an agenda (and follow it)

Often, meetings take place simply because of habit. When that happens, regular “weekly meetings” that are supposed to happen every Friday morning, end up being a “pass the baton” session – where the meeting lead goes around the table to ask,

“Does anyone have any updates?” As the meeting leader, it’s your responsibility to know what you want from the meeting. Is everyone meeting to discuss a new product launch? Or is this a regularly scheduled “weekly updates” meeting? Decide on every item you want to know about. List down the projects that are in progress, and the specific questions you want to ask about every project.

Make sure your agenda is concise and specific – leaving open-ended questions to the end, after specific questions have been answered. Then, be sure that you follow through with your agenda. It may be tempting to give in and let the meeting go into the usual “free flow mode” after participants start being distracted.

But stay focused and keep everyone on topic. By the end of the meeting, everyone will be thankful that you kept the meeting on course.

Secret 3: Expand your “office” with technology

The previous 2 secrets showed you how to optimise your meetings, so everyone in the office could contribute effectively and efficiently. But this secret can take your meetings – and the way your office works – to the next level.

By utilising technology such as audio, video, or web conferencing, you can break down the physical limitations of your meeting room – and connect across offices, countries, and continents.

means that you can involve colleagues from international offices, suppliers, freelancers, and remote workers in your meetings. Got a customer that you’d like to involve in the meeting? Get them in too, it’s your choice.

Best of all, you can converse over audio, or even face-to-face, using audio and video conferencing platforms – such as those available on Angage. Don’t have anyone to record the minutes? Save the meeting into your computer, it’s that simple.