Conduct Effective Meetings

 

Running an effective business meeting can help your company produce results and meet important goals. 

To make sure you have an effective meeting, here are some tips on how to conduct effective meetings.

Outline your key meeting points with an agenda.

1. An important part of conducting an effective business meeting is meeting planning. Have your key points written or typed out. 
2. You can also give the participants a copy of your agenda so that they will know what to expect and they can prepare for the meeting themselves.
3. you should state your goal for the meeting. 
4. This should be the main end result you are aiming for, such as coming up with a new idea or discussing an important issue. 
5. Try to limit the amount of points on your agenda. 
6. You should cover the most important things in your meeting.

2

Follow the agenda when you conduct the meeting.

• Make sure to follow your meeting plan. 
• If the meeting starts to go off course or off topic, steer the meeting back to the topic at hand.

3.Start your meeting immediately.

• Once the meeting time arrives, start the meeting. 
• This will help establish your role as the leader as well as utilize the time you have.

4.Set a time limit for your meeting.

• Meetings shouldn't run too long; 30 minutes or shorter is a good length. 
• Keeping the meeting short will ensure that you are more efficient and use the time wisely, and your participants will be more focused when they know the meeting is short. 
• When your time limit has run out, end your meeting. 
• You can always cover other points in the next meeting.

Encourage the meeting participants to add feedback and input.

• Ask questions and let people at the meeting volunteer answers. 
• Do not force participation, but gently encourage them to give input. If 1 person comments, guide the others by saying something like, "Well done. 
• Does anyone else have something to contribute," or "Let's hear a suggestion from someone else."
• Do not call upon those that rarely speak as this may make them feel uncomfortable. Encourage them indirectly by saying, "I value the opinion of everyone here. Does anyone else want to add something?" and glance at the person you want to speak up. He may be encouraged to share his thoughts, and if he isn't, then he hasn't been embarrassed from being called upon.