Have you ever dreaded going to a meeting thinking that it is going to be such a waste of time and that you have 50 other things you would rather do than sit in a conference room full of people and just talk about nothing? You would not believe how often this happens where a group of 5-10 employees get together for about an hour or two and just talk about nothing. Well here are some useful tips on what you can do to change that.

To start use an AGENDA! State the date, start time, speaker and time allotted for each topic, ending time, location and participants

Tips for Positioning of Agenda Topics

* List the most important item first
* List any topics that only a few people are involved in at the end so that non-participating members may leave
* Group similar topics together
* Leave controversial items to near the end
* Always end the meeting on a positive note
* Include expected time of adjournment


Remember…

* Focus on the meeting at hand – if you need to do other work do it elsewhere
* Always begin meetings by stating meeting objective(s) and duration
* Stay on track – don’t go down “rat holes”
* Distribute agendas/pre-work in advance
* Distribute minutes listing agreements and action items afterwards
* Close discussions – take actions
* Arrive on time
* Start on time regardless of who’s missing
* End on time – if you need more time schedule another meeting