Communication Tools

Great Meeting Facilitation Does Exist

When was the last time you attended a meeting or a conference call that wasn't a major train wreck?

Well it happens more than you may know.  During the past year in 2016, every meeting I attended was poorly facilitated, failing to provide clear action items that needed to be accomplished. During the year there were more meeting than I can recall.  Each day I would attend anywhere from 2 to 5 meetings. Each meeting was always worse than the last one. We started to place bets to see which meeting would be worse than the last one.

Most people facilitating the meetings were unaware of what was to be discussed until the moment they sat down with a surprised look on their face while attendees were either sleeping or meditating, on their lap tops checking email, or sending text messages on their mobile devices. For me, it was the greatest waste of time and money.  Most people reminded me that I should not care because we were still getting paid and that's the way the cookie crumbles, so stop caring. I just couldn't stop caring and kept pushing for better use of our time.

Planning and organizing a great meeting is very easy to accomplish and can be an asset in engaging those in attendance. When conducting meetings I am always aware of the importance of the time of others, which helps me not to waste their time or mine with nonsense or the urge to hear myself talk in circles.

Here are some of the things that I strive for when setting up meetings:

• Use common sense when planning and scheduling meetings.

• Never schedule meetings on Monday mornings or late Friday afternoon.

• All meetings should have a purpose with clear objectives.

• Prepare an agenda and send it out at least 48 hours in advance.

• Avoid having attendees go around the room providing updates that no one is really interested in hearing about again.

• Keep meetings small - no more than 8 people at the max. Only invite key people that really need to be there and who can make decisions.

• Meetings should be no more than 1 hour. That be should be shared upfront with participants. If extra time is needed to complete a thought or discussion, permission should be requested.

• No digital devices to distract attendees. It's a great opportunity before the meeting starts for people to check in with each other and say hello as opposed to checking in with their mobile phones. It's just rude, even in today's society, not to mention rude to the facilitator.

• Lastly, everyone should participate in the meeting, even if it means calling some people out for their feedback.

Give these tips a try when planning your next meeting and I guarantee that it will be a more productive and enjoyable experience.