How to Run a Meeting Like a Pro

 

Have you ever sat in a meeting that dragged on and time stood still?

Maybe you’ve experienced colleagues and executives that seem to be addicted to meetings as the only path forward to solving problems?

Almost like moths mesmerized by bright lights, some people are drawn to meetings to appear busy, which must mean they are really productive.

Truth is that many meetings lack direction and purpose and can transcend into bullshitting or bitching sessions, or even used an excuse not to go back to work.

If you’re put in charge of calling and running a meeting or see a real need for one, do it right. Don’t waste everyone’s time and get the most out of your meeting.

Here are some tips on how to run the most efficient and effective meeting possible that will lead you to success, rather draining productivity and potentially even company profits.

 

Focus on the Outcome

Meetings, although frequently necessary, are a huge burden on a company.

For one, they stop everyone from other work they could doing and put them all in one room.

For two, some in the room might have higher pay scales, making it one really expensive period of time for the company, so the meeting better be worth it.

In order to call a meeting, you must first know your outcome.

What is the meeting for? What are you trying to accomplish?

Do you even need a meeting?

Sometimes people are too quick to call meetings and only have a vague idea of the purpose, surprisingly, leading to drifting and a waste of time.

Your directive or goal should be plain and simple.

A meeting can be as minimal as a 15-min huddle to get the group on the same page, or a touchstone to report progress, roadblocks, or discuss issues.

You have to have a razor sharp focus on what you need to get as a result of the meeting.

Write down your goal, then move on to setting up an agenda.

 

Have an Agenda and Lead the Meeting

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to meetings and no one prepares beforehand, waiting until the moment where things unfold and they try to remember what to they were going to say. Easy prey for digression.

Do your homework: Prepare, and come up with an agenda beforehand.

This shouldn’t be too hard, so keep it simple and start with looking at your meeting outcomes and goals, as mentioned above.

Think about the sequence of topics and how they can segue into each other. Pick an order that makes sense or progresses naturally.

You can even plan out time periods for each topic.

All of this organization helps a ton and you’ll look like a pro to everyone.

Lastly, if you’re calling the meeting, then you lead it. That’s the rule. I’ve seen where someone calls the meeting and then lets others commandeer the progression.

Keep things moving along an on task in order to have the most efficient meeting. Exercise tactful leadership.

 

Stop Digression

As just mentioned, very commonly meetings can drift off into another area and take more time than planned.

Sometimes digressions are necessary and become useful discussions that should be welcomed, but other times they need to be cut off and people need to be reeled in.

As the meeting leader, it’s your responsibility judge if the digression is worthy or not and then bring everyone back to the tasks at hand.

If a superior interjects, let them voice their concern and then gently bring everyone back to the last task being discussed. 

This is an artful chore for sure, but being polite and reminding the group of the goals of the meeting really helps.

You can also suggest that these topics be discussed in another meeting or even offer to schedule and lead that if you can.

 

Be Direct and Think Ahead

There’s a reason why Elon Musk granulizes his schedule into his famous 5 minute increments: he doesn’t mess around.

In order to run all those companies and be successful, Musk doesn’t have time to beat around the bush.

I would image this guy despises digression and inefficiency and gets to the core of what needs to be done right away.

Follow this direct simplicity. Try to problem solve and make decisions quickly.

A lot of times it may not be the right decision, but you are taking action and going somewhere. You can refine things along the way after more knowledge is gained, which is a typical engineering practice.

Keeping a meeting on track can be hard, but if you can think ahead and boil things down to the core problems and needs, this will increase efficiency.

Being direct but professional is a difficult skill to master, especially in the beginning, but you’ll refine and improve with time and it really serves well in business.

 

Don’t Make the Meeting Longer than Needed

Respect everyone’s time and also remember that this will be an expensive period of time for the company, getting everyone together and away from their normal duties.

Look at your agenda, attempt to budget time periods for each topic, and try to stick to those.

If you over or under estimate time, note that and do better next time. Don’t just schedule an hour meeting because that’s what everyone does and expects.

 

Take Notes

You must document the main things that were discussed in your journal for the record.

Many people think they can remember everything from the meeting when it’s happening, but will forget a lot, especially small details.

This actually can really kill efficiency if things were accomplished in the meeting and then forgotten, wasting progress and causing potentially another meeting as a result.

Always a good idea in general to have a journal of all important conversations and phone calls that you have in your work so you can refer back and have a record of what discussed.

Referring back to records this way demonstrates to others that you are organized, attentive, and reliable, which are huge markers for success.

These are the kinds of things that really get noticed quickly by upper management.

 

Review Action Items, Assignments, and Results at the End

At the close of the meeting, you’ll want to wrap it up with a quick summary of what was decided or accomplished to organize everyone’s thinking and remind them of tasks they were assigned or volunteered for.

Depending on the company culture or importance of the meeting, you may want to follow up with sending out meeting minutes to everyone afterward.

 

Conclusion

Unorganized meetings without leadership can be a huge drag. Not only on your time and patience, but more importantly on a company’s budget and productivity. Cut the crap and run a meeting like a champ by:

• Focusing on the Outcome
• Having an organized agenda and leading the meeting
• Stopping Digression
• Being direct and thinking ahead
• Not making the meeting longer than needed
• Taking Notes
• Reviewing action items, results of the meeting at the end, following up afterward

If you follow these pointers and run a concise, productive meeting, you’ll soon find yourself leading more than just meetings.