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Tips
for Effective Meetings
See below for
resources from previous sessions!
Advice
from Attendees of the July 2007 Leadership
Roundtables
Before
the meeting:
- Know what you want accomplished.
- Always
have the agenda set beforehand.
- Set
the agenda with participants' input. Put it in writing and distribute
to participants prior to the meeting.
- Set
time frames for agenda items and hold people to those time frames.
- Select
people and set up ahead of time.
- Assign
responsibility for some aspect of the meeting to everyone.
- Email
reminders of the meeting with a copy of the agenda.
During the meeting:
- Start on time.
- Have
copies of agenda available at the meeting.
- Stick
to the agenda.
- Keep
accurate minutes.
- Follow
up on previous discussions.
- Stay
on topic.
- Speak with clarity.
- Avoid irrelevant talk –stay focused.
- End on time.
Help for chairing a meeting:
- Assign responsibilities for the
meeting to more than one person.
- Rotate
responsibilities as facilitator, note taker, etc.
- Use
an effective time keeper to keep on task. This way everyone knows
they can't keep talking.
- To
get everyone involved from the start in a small meeting, go around
the room for a “What's new?” moment.
- Refer
to minutes for follow up to prevent having regular meetings that
seem to exist in a vacuum.
- Be
solution oriented. Don't allow the meeting to become a complaint
session.
- Do
not use the meeting to blame. Use it as a tool for solutions.
- Try
to have everyone participate.
- Find
balance between allowing people to express themselves and maintaining
the focus on the agenda.
- Use humor to set everyone at ease.
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