The good…the bad…and the ugly! That pretty much sums things up on the topic of meetings. There are good ones, bad ones and ugly ones.

So What?

Stop going to bad or ugly meetings. Stop conducting bad or ugly meetings. Meetings are often necessary, so if you must have one, make it a productive use of everyone’s time.

Now What?

Here are a few quick tips to help get your meetings going in the right direction.

• Clarify and clearly communicate the purpose of your meeting. The more you clarify, the more you increase your chances of having a successful meeting.

• After you clarify your purpose, try to find any legitimate reason to avoid having the meeting. Can things be handled in a memo or an e-mail? Would one-on-one conversations be as or more effective?

• Are the right people invited to your meeting? Are people included that don’t need to be there?

• Can materials be sent to attendees prior to the meeting to facilitate discussions or decisions?

• Be ruthless about starting and ending on time.

• Do not allow off-topic discussions. Use a flipchart or pad of paper to capture these items and handle them later. Get back on the
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  ing bad or ugly meetings. Meetings are often necessary, so if you must have one, make it a productive use of everyone’s time.

  Now What?

  Here are a few quick tips to help get your meetings going in the right direction.

  • Clarify and clearly communicate the purpose of your meeting. The more you clarify, the more you increase your chances of having a successful meeting.

  • After you clarify your purpose, try to find any legitimate reason to avoid having the meeting. Can things be handled in a memo or an e-mail? Would one-on-one conversations be as or more effective?

  • Are the right people invited to your meeting? Are people included that don’t need to be there?

  • Can materials be sent to attendees prior to the meeting to facilitate discussions or decisions?

  • Be ruthless about starting and ending on time.

  • Do not allow off-topic discussions. Use a flipchart or pad of paper to capture these items and handle them later. Get back on th
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  • Clarify and clearly communicate the purpose of your meeting. The more you clarify, the more you increase your chances of having a successful meeting.

  • After you clarify your purpose, try to find any legitimate reason to avoid having the meeting. Can things be handled in a memo or an e-mail? Would one-on-one conversations be as or more effective?

  • Are the right people invited to your meeting? Are people included that don’t need to be there?

  • Can materials be sent to attendees prior to the meeting to facilitate discussions or decisions?

  • Be ruthless about starting and ending on time.

  • Do not allow off-topic discussions. Use a flipchart or pad of paper to capture these items and handle them later. Get back on th
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    ng. Can things be handled in a memo or an e-mail? Would one-on-one conversations be as or more effective?

  • Are the right people invited to your meeting? Are people included that don’t need to be there?

  • Can materials be sent to attendees prior to the meeting to facilitate discussions or decisions?

  • Be ruthless about starting and ending on time.

  • Do not allow off-topic discussions. Use a flipchart or pad of paper to capture these items and handle them later. Get back on th
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    prior to the meeting to facilitate discussions or decisions?

  • Be ruthless about starting and ending on time.

  • Do not allow off-topic discussions. Use a flipchart or pad of paper to capture these items and handle them later. Get back on the topic of the meeting as soon as you capture these off-topic ideas.

  • Have one person designated as a recorder to take notes for everyone and distribute the notes to all meeting attendees. Everyone except the recorder needs to listen and stay mentally engaged in the meeting.

  • Establish a clear plan for what happens next for any follow-up items. Who will do it? What will they do? When will they do it?

  To learn more about conducting effective meetings read Death by Meeting by Patrick M. Lencioni and How to Make Meetings Work by Michael Doyle and David Straus.

  Meetings are prime candidates for the list of massive time-wasting activities. Don’t look for ways to justify them, look for ways to justify not having them. If you genuinely can’t figure out a way to avoid a meeting…have a good one.