Russ Dalbey's Blog

I blogged a couple weeks back about picking smart places to host meetings outside your home office. This week, I want to cover another important topic: how to conduct a successful meeting.

It’s easy enough to sit in on a meeting – to listen and take notes. But what if you’re the one running the show? If being the group leader is unfamiliar to you, being in that position could be uncomfortable at first, but with a little planning you can host a successful meeting.

Here are some guidelines that will help you host productive meetings:

1. Decide if you even need to have a meeting. Even a short meeting requires time and energy to prepare for and host, especially if it will take you outside of your home office.

So, before you invest any time into making phone calls or even pull out your calendar, ask yourself:

“Is this something I can handle over the phone or with an email?”
“Can this wait until I have more topics to discuss all at once?”
“Will having this meeting bring benefits that outweigh the time and energy required?”

2. Set objectives. Before the meeting, sit down and decide what it is you want the meeting to be about. Make sure that your meeting objectives are concrete and realistic.

By laying out your expectations in advance, you’ll have some sort of measurement to help you evaluate the meeting afterwards. Setting objectives allows you to continuously improve your meeting process.

3. Draft an agenda. Once you’ve established your meeting objectives, write out an agenda listing the topics that will be covered and the names of the attendees who will be critical to each one. Email or give a printed copy of the agenda to all meeting attendees well in advance – that way, they’ll have plenty of time to prepare or research.

4. Stick to your agenda. It’s very easy to get off-task and for your meeting to be “derailed.” By using the agenda as a strict guide to the meeting’s flow, you’ll get a lot more accomplished.

I think it’s a good idea to say upfront what the meeting’s objective will be, too. “We’re meeting today to discuss X,Y and Z.” This is an easy way to keep everyone focused.

5. Assign “to do”s to each meeting topic. Don’t move on from an agenda item without deciding how and when to act on it. If a specific deadline or due date is appropriate, attach that as well. Making “action items” to address each issue helps guarantee that things will get done as necessary.

6. Finish with a review. At the end of the meeting, take a moment to reinforce what was accomplished during the meeting: “So, today we decided that we would XYZ and that by our next meeting we will have ABC ready.” Don’t forget to thank everyone for their time and attention.

Warmly,
Russ

Founder of Winning in the Cash Flow Business
Dalbey Education Institute

Founder of Winning in the Cash Flow Business