Who Likes Meetings?

I have talked a lot about meetings in my last couple posts. Why does everyone hate meetings? Too often not enough work has been done before the meeting so everyone sits around getting nothing done. Sometimes the one chairing the meeting has not “rallied up enough support” before the meeting and everyone spends the entire time in conflict over smaller issues. I think people dislike meetings because too often they take too much time. Here are a few ideas you can try:

• Keep meetings as short as possible; unless it is a quarterly or one time meeting an hour and a half is probably too long.
• Start and end your meetings on time, even if everyone is not there. If you make this a habit after a couple meetings people will start to show up on-time.
• If you consistently find you do not have enough content for the meeting – meet less often.
• Make sure your meeting chair is not surprised by what is on the agenda.
• Provide an annotated agenda or short talking points that the key presenters can use, this serves as a reminder of the key items to cover (this works well for volunteers).