In order to have an effective meeting, you must first set the framework for success. From a facilitator's viewpoint, here are some very tangible ways in order to create a foundation to make your meetings as effective as possible...
- Create an invitation that includes a clear and understandable purpose with agenda items that support this goal.
- Schedule your meeting in advance with sufficient time for attendees to comprehend the purpose and agenda, and to provide a response as to whether they will be in attendance. Additionally, attendees should review and agree to any roles they're assigned. Be prepared in case you need time to negotiate someone's attendance, finding alternates for meeting roles and for agenda revisions.
- Ensure that proper notes are captured during the meeting, not just for a historical perspective, but so that others who were not in attendance can grasp the key aspects of the meeting including the discussions held, decisions made, and action items given.
- Finally ensure that your meeting minutes are sent out in a timely fashion. For maximum effectiveness, it's imperative that these are delivered to attendees and stakeholders within 24 hours of the meeting being held. Minutes are also not to be written in stone, but instead to be a draft with an opportunity for attendees to respond with corrections, adjustments or missing details. This is precisely why they should be sent out sooner rather than later so that the meeting is still fresh within everyone's mind.
You'll notice that I skipped details on running a meeting. That's an entire discussion all by itself that will be addressed in a future post.
By holding to, in some cases these seemingly small details, you'll greatly improve your performance and communication of your meetings. This means taking care, not just while running a meeting, but also to all of the important aspects before and after a meeting is held.