AKA How NOT to Annoy People You Want to Help You
I’ve seen so many people get this wrong in the last few months – I don’t want you to be one of those people.
I know, I know. Planning a meeting might be one of the most boring, mundane things you do in your day, but it doesn’t have to be! If you are building a business and building a team, it’s a skill you want to have in your back pocket.
Meetings Take Time & Money
When you invite people to a meeting it costs you and your team time and money. You better make it worth it!!
Get Free Templates for Planning & Follow Up
This skill is so important and a relatively easy one to pick up so not only do we have 8 tips to help you run better meetings in this blog post, we’ve got a treat to help you implement these tips faster.
Click here to get a meeting planning template AND a bonus follow up, get in action template to make sure what you talk about in the meeting is put into action. The proof’s in the pudding baby!! The tips are also included in this freebie so click on through or just read on!
How to Rock Out Your Next Team Meeting!
#1 Make it Happen – Set a Clear Objective
What do you want to accomplish in this meeting? Let everyone know so you can bring it back to the focus if things start to go sideways.
#2 Break It Down – Have an Agenda
Let people come prepared!! Make an agenda and share it with the attendees. Want bonus points? Actually send out the agenda before the meeting.
#3 Get it Done – Time It
When you tee up your agenda, consider how much time you actually need for the meeting. Don’t schedule more than what you need. READ: #don’twastemytime When you are focused and know what you are talking about (see item #2) you can likely get away with less time than you think. When the topic at hand calls for a long meeting, you might even divide agenda into sections and assign blocks of time to each topic so you don’t get the end with only half of your topics covered.
#4 People Matter – Invite the Right People
Have the wrong people in the room and risk not having the people you need close by to make a decision. Have too many people and you waste a lot of time. Some people might be there just so they are in the know, to learn, etc. It doesn’t matter what the reason is, it’s all good. Just know to be mindful on this one! Don’t feel like you have to invite everyone and their brother to every meeting for fear of leaving someone out. Some companies, like the Google, actually limit the number of meeting attendees.
#5 Be Smarter – End On Time
The meeting that was supposed to end half an hour ago… Yeah. Been there. Be mindful of other people’s schedules. I promise. Your most productive team members will thank you! Give a warning before the meeting is scheduled to end. “I want to be mindful of everyone’s time. We’ve got about 10 minutes left.” This draws attention back to the fact that you are going to wrap soon and everyone can focus in on key decision points again. Plus, no surprises when you cut everyone off!
#6 Stay on Track – Build a Parking Lot
If all of your attempts to keep people focused fail (and they probably will), no need to stomp your feet like my toddler. Just create a parking lot. This is the place where important topics and good ideas that come up can be captured so they can be addressed in a different meeting or through another channel.
#7 Don’t Forget – Document Follow Ups + Action Items
Make sure someone is in charge of documenting the follow-ups and, most importantly, the action items. Want more bonus points? Send out those action items after the meeting so people know what’s what!
#8 It’s Not that Deep (Unless it is) – Lighten Up
I know. All this meeting talk feels a little corporate and stodgy. Feel free to lighten it all up a bit by sending out a YouTube video to get everyone in the mood for the meeting or do a quick ice breaker at the start of the meeting to get the creative juices flowing. The quick ice breaker could be something as simple as… When I say “Nice” (or something related to your brand and the meeting topic), what do you think? Bam! No one expected that at the meeting. Did they? It seems silly, but breaking the flow of what is expected resets our flow and gets the juices going again.
Easy, Right?
If you made it to the bottom and didn’t grab your free planning and follow up template yet, get it here.
What did we miss?
Have any super cool meeting planning ideas you want to add? Bring it on in the comments!! We love hearing your tips!
