how to conduct meeting

A large number of corporate leaders think that meeting is a waste of time. This short write up on how to conduct meeting reviews that.

John Linwood, the chief technology officer at BBC complained that he spent too much time in meeting leaving less time to do his job. "how much time we spend on the key attributes that the organisation had hired us?" he questioned.

Enclosed are some tips to a successful meeting

1.Make sure that there is absolutely no alternative.
Check if it can be done by other methods. If it is about passing information, meeting may not be the best methods. You can do it easily by email. Some time meetings were conducted because it is the routine, ... we always have meeting on Monday,.. then forget it.

2.Have an agenda.
Always prepare the agenda and distribute it to the participants in advance so that they too can prepare for the meeting. The amount of time taken to prepare the agenda will always be less then the extra time required if you were having no agenda. After you have done the agenda, recheck if meeting is the only solution, otherwise do it without the meeting.

3. Keep the number down
Keep the number of participants to the minimum. The effective number is between 6 to 10. The The more people you have then that will be too many and will not be conducive to open discussion.

4. Spread the load
Just because you are calling for the meeting does not mean that you have to do everything. You may need someone to be a facilitator, and another to be the scriber.

5. Do your home work
Prepare for the meeting. If you need your subordinates to tell you the jobs progress, get them to send email to you. It will be a boring moment to hear the staffs telling their boss what they are doing.

6. Start and end on time
Always start on time and end it on time. They boss has to set this as an example, if the boss is late, then the next time the staff will have the respect of the timing.

7. Shut away the toys.
Make it a ruling, all communication must be silent. It will be upsetting to speak to a group when some are reading their email or texting the message. Have a short break to allow them to check their mail or hand phone.

8.Put it in writing
The minutes must be sent at latest on the next day. If you have a full time scriber, minutes can be sent within minutes after the meeting.
It defeat the very purpose of the meeting if you do not record it.

joha rahman