Productive Business Meetings

What should be done? Productive effective business meetings on a regular basis or only when necessary? Weekly meetings to increase productivity and to help team members prioritize their tasks or, irregular meetings that tend to last longer and to be counterproductive.

Regular and productive meetings on topics such as decision making, idea sharing, innovation, problem solving, status update, team building compared to irregular meetings that last too long and that tend to be unprepared, unfocused and unproductive.

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Meeting Planning Checklist

Meetings are important and they need to be prepared appropriately and adequately. Meetings that help develop ideas, build plans, make decisions and solve problems.

Meetings make team members feel included and trusted. They give each and everyone of them the opportunity to show their knowledge, their talents and their enthusiasm.

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Meetings that need to be well prepared so the team feels valued. Meetings are opportunities to solicit the opinion of each and every team member and to make use of it. Positive feedback is important, so is constructive advice and so is a simple "thank you" every now and then.

Meeting Spaces and Places

Meeting space such as a large conference room with a presentation screen and plenty of power sockets and seating places or, a small and intimate meeting room with 5 or 6 places, a table and a coffee machine.

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A small room that can serve as a brainstorming room equipped with a screen, a projecting equipment and a few whiteboards and/or as a videoconferencing room equipped with a webcam and a monitor for video calls.

Meeting rooms with light color walls and sufficient spaces and places for each participant. Rooms with a high enough ceiling so people feel comfortable, with air conditioning or central heating and, ideally, with windows that allow plenty of natural light and fresh air.

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For the most part, planning business meetings and finding the right location involves common sense groundwork such as asking for recommendations, researching various accommodations, visiting different locations and watching for special offers.

Boring Meetings

There are many reasons why participants get bored during a meeting. Meetings with no strict agenda, not enough preparation and no visual aids such as a film, a slide projector, a video or a PowerPoint. Unprepared meetings that offer a lot of unnecessary information and participants who battle fatigue.

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Remember, passive listening leads to boredom. Make sure every member of your team has received all the relevant information pertaining to any particular meeting. They must know why he or she has been invited, what exactly you wish to accomplish and how they can help.