Determine whether there is a need for a meeting. Avoid a meeting if the same information could be covered in a memo, e-mail or brief report.
Set realistic objectives for the meeting. What information must be shared and what can be accomplished.
Have an agenda and circulate it prior to the meeting. Ensure the agenda expresses [...]
Start the meeting on time. Review the agenda and announce all expectations at the outset of the meeting.
Keep the meeting moving along by sticking to the agenda.
Be attentive to the person speaking — do not begin sidebar conversations or be reading or completing paperwork while a person is talking. You expect common courtesy from others, so [...]
Ensure minutes are prepared and circulated participants as soon as possible after the meeting date. Read minutes and note any necessary edits that need to be made to reflect what transpired.
Send any post-meeting communications to all participants in a timely manner.
Evaluate the meeting and note whether it met the stated objectives. Pass along [...]
As mentioned in the previous post, “the checklist for effective meetings” is found in the By George Treasury. The useful compilation is taken from more than one thousand past By George articles. The book includes lists of some of the most remarkable quotations, classic wordplay, puns and quizzes, editorials, the best of the humour over the years, and the 15-most [...]
Through the coming month, the By George Journal will post some helpful tips on how to make the meetings you attend more effective, more relevant to your work and/or interests. We start this feature by providing you with a useful checklist (this advice has been taken from the By George Treasury). We look forward to offering up [...]
For the past 15 years, CG&A COMM has been publishing By George as an irregular on-line journal. The most viewed column over those years has been an article on running effective meetings. As we are all cursed with having to sit through far too many meetings, here is that original piece to help you make [...]