1. Improving effectiveness of a meeting
from Managing time - Harvard business school press. Compiled and abridged by Viswanath Jayachandran
Date : 20 March 2011
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2. Strategies
The following methods can help us maximise the time spent in meetings.
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3. Pre-requisite
Think and decide whether you are indeed the most suitable representative before
attending a meeting.
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4. Purpose
Meetings should have a purpose; a set of tangible goals that must be accomplished.
Not only should the meeting have clear objectives, but also proposed outcomes.
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5. Agenda
A meeting should be held with a set of agenda, which should be distributed to attendees
before the meeting starts.
Stay focused on the task at hand.
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6. Agenda
If you have not received an agenda, request to see it in advance.
After-all, you cannot sent the best person for the meeting until the purpose of the
meeting is clearly communicated.
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7. Relevance
Arrange to attend only the part of a meeting that is relevant.
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8. Organising a meeting
Ensure there is an absolute necessity for a meeting.
If the message can be just as easily shared in an email to the group, why interrupt their
work?
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9. Preparation
If there are visual aides, have them ready before the group enters the room.
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10. Organising a meeting
In case you are the organiser, it may be beneficial to distribute a set of points, to consider
for the meeting.
It aids in maximising participants’ time and thus the effectiveness of a meeting by
keeping it on track.
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11. Gaps between meetings
If you have several meetings a day, that limbo time can amount to a significant wastage.
Try to schedule your meetings back-to-back; instead of putting yourself in and out of
meeting mode for no apparent reason
The time in between is better clumped together at some point in the day for productive
endeavors.
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