Meetings

5 Ways to Boost Meeting Efficiency

1. Make the boardroom a No Surfing zone.

Smartphones (iPhones, BlackBerries, etc) are amazing efficiency tools, allowing busy people to get things done on the go.

However, they also contribute to inefficiency during meetings. With people surfing the web, replying to emails, and engaged in any number of things other than the meeting, it’s difficult to hold their attention, which results in a lot of repetition.

Solution? Designate the boardroom a no-surfing zone. If you have to, make everyone surrender their phones at the door. With focus taken off of phones and put back on the meeting, you’ll get more accomplished in less time.

2. Schedule discussion time.

Open discussions bring out great ideas and solutions. They can also run away on you. Arguments start, people go off on tangents, you lose focus, and you waste time.

Avoid this by factoring discussion time for each topic into your meeting agenda.

Set a time limit and stick to it. This will encourage everyone to stay focused on the topic at hand. If time is almost up and the discussion is far from over, table the matter for another time and continue the meeting.

3. Invite key players only.

Key players means only the people directly implicated in the topics on the agenda.

Every additional voice adds time to the meeting, and decreases efficiency. True, everyone has an opinion, and those opinions can certainly add value. However, too many voices in a room add up to a lot of noise.

Resist the urge to invite more. If you want company or department-wide opinions, ask for them in advance and discuss with your key players at the meeting.

4. Keep it short.

Lengthy meetings are exhausting. Especially when covering a variety of topics, it’s common for energy and attention to drop off.

If your meeting outline is starting to look like a small manifesto, consider breaking it up into a series of smaller meetings.

Because it’s easier to maintain energy for shorter periods of time, you will actually get more accomplished by having more meetings, but making each one shorter, smaller (see #3) and more focused.

5. Open and close with action.

Close each meeting or topic with action items: What will be done, by whom and when. Follow up the meeting with a quick email summary of what was decided.

For regular team meetings, a great kick-off is to review the previous meeting’s action items. This encourages accountability, and keeps the team’s focus on productivity. It’s also a nice morale booster to start each meeting by acknowledging accomplishments.