10 simple ways to make meetings more effective

Problem

Most people don't particularly enjoy team meetings. Rather than attempt to eradicate meetings, there are ways to make them more effective for everyone involved by adopting a few simple practices. The goal is not to diminish important conversations, but instead to make meetings more effective for everyone involved.

Actions taken

1 - Provide a meeting agenda when scheduling and define a goal. This helps everyone involved come prepared. 2 - Send out all meeting documentation at least 24 hours before the meeting to make sure everyone comes prepared to contribute. 3 - Respect everyone's time by starting meetings on time and not going over the end time you have set. 4 - Consider scheduling a meeting with fewer people. This will make the meeting and project more successful 5 - Take meeting notes and send them to all participants to help them stay organized and increase the value of the meeting. 6 - Define expectations for the meeting ahead of time so the participants know what to bring. 7 - If you have remote participants, make sure to speak up and mind the location of the microphone. Remember to ask for their opinions throughout the meeting. Also, be mindful of time zones. 8 - Be mindful of the maker vs. manager schedule. Make sure the meeting is actually necessary prior to scheduling it. 9 - Discuss with the organizer before adding additional attendees. It may be well intended but it may not make the most sense to have them there. 10 - Help retain technical clarity. When fleshing out technical details with an engineer, ensure the same engineer joins subsequent meetings on the same topic to aid against loss of technical information.

Lessons learned

These ten things should help make meetings be more fruitful for everyone involved. Source: https://blog.brunomiranda.com/10-simple-ways-to-make-meetings-more-effective-d440a402e5b7