Meetings are an integral part of the business and it is better to plan and prepare for one in a logical and timely manner. A good meeting must be scheduled in advance and inform participants about the focus area.
It must not consume your whole day and leave you regretting the futility of attending one and wasting valuable time. In order to have useful meetings to ensure that it turns out to be of a productive nature. Meetings are scheduled to review the project and its progress and also to solve any related issues. It is here that you can exchange and put forward useful information that can prove a blessing for the project.
1) Is the meeting necessary
Before setting up a meeting it is important that you decide whether it is necessary to organize one at this point in time or will it prove to be a waste. You need to arrange a business meeting to exchange project-related ideas, solve relevant issues and improve professional relationships.
Is it necessary to have a face-to-face meeting at this point or can you accomplish everything you need by sending emails?
Does it have to be a thorough discussion that needs calling every attached human resource with the project to that meeting or you can accomplish the needful by inviting only a few important participants for a short duration are questions that need to be tackled with before scheduling a meeting?
2) Invite only who need to be there
Sometimes a project is handled by lots of people from several divisions in the office. When you have decided to arrange a business meeting it is very important to know beforehand whether you need to invite every attached resource to it and whether it is worth it.
Most of them will not have anything to contribute so why not invite the people who are directly relevant to the project and leave their underlings out. You will be simply wasting time, effort and energy of people who are better at their workstations doing productive work at that time than attending a useless meeting.
If you think that a whole division needs to be informed of a decision invite its head and give him the necessary information so that he can go and relate it to his team. It will save a lot of time and company resource.
3) Reminders
Professional life has become a series of the web that is always entangled in lots of issues and dealings. The tension of completing a project within a deadline and making sure that no hassles occur in the meantime can make most of the people forgetful of simple matters.
Most of the workers are simply not interested in attending meetings as they think that the time would be better spent working on something worthwhile. Hence they tend to forget when an important meeting is scheduled where participation is compulsory. Better send out reminders after arranging a business meeting at least one to two days in advance to inform and ask for a confirmation of their attendance to know that they have received and read the necessary email.
4) Agenda
Want to arrange a business meeting that will turn to be fruitful. Think beforehand what your main agenda for the meeting is. A clear objective will set its foundation. Is there any relevant short topic that also needs to be addressed at the same time?
Make a list of them so that you do not forget it. Organizing your meeting agenda and distributing them to the other participants will prove a blessing. It will give them time to gather relevant information and share it with others at the meeting place.
It is better to be prepared beforehand so that you can plan in advance the directives that need to be followed to make the meeting more productive. When you keep your onus on an agenda you can easily stay on topic and save valuable time.
5) Expectations
When you decided to arrange a business meeting you must have had some expectations from it. Make sure that when you are sending out the notification of the scheduled meeting you are also including in the papers the purpose of arranging one and your expectations from such an occurrence. Be clear that it is not a random meeting but an important one with specific directives that need to be followed diligently to make it a success. State in bold letters about your own expectations and let others know before so that they can come prepared mentally as well as with necessary facts and figures.
6) Timing
You need to respect time to gain additional benefits in life. Punctuality is an admired trait in professionals as it shows their work commitment and basic etiquettes. It is very irritating and frustrating when people keep coming inside a meeting room even after it has started. It indicates a lack of manners and a show of disrespect towards authority.
Make sure you have specified the starting time of a meeting in the letter sent earlier and have made it clear by now that delayed arrivals will not be allowed to enter. Taking charge of the timings is vital before you arrange a business meeting. Lock the door at a specific time and start the meeting. You will not face the same problem again from next time onwards.
7) Short and simple
It is best if you arrange a business meeting with a specific time schedule in mind and follow it diligently. Everyone is busy with their work commitments and it is never productive to waste time unnecessarily. Allot only the time which is necessary for the meeting and keep it short and simple.
Inform others also about the time limit so that everyone comes prepared and can have a say in a clear and precise manner to finish it off within the time frame. If a discussion drags on it is your prerogative to bring the discussion back on topic so that the meeting remains short and timely.
8) Focus on the topic
Keeping your focus on the topic is much more important than deciding on the agenda. Be specific and clear when you arrange a business meeting.
Let others know at the beginning that at the meeting you will not contemplate any off-topic queries. Maintain your resolution and stick to the topic so that the meetings take place as scheduled. Do not let the discussions wander off to other topics so as to save everybody’s time.
9) Take a different approach
Before you arrange a business meeting think about the others that have recently taken place. If you think that they might not have served their purpose 100% then it is time to shift your focus to alternatives. Times are changing and it is better to use technology to your advantage.
The audiovisuals and graphics will help in keeping the participants engaged and encourage collaborative groundwork. Computer projections and presentations will prove a welcoming change that will keep everything per schedule and save ample time.
10) Follow Up
When you arrange a business meeting it becomes necessary for a follow-up. Whoever arranges the meeting has the responsibility of making sure that all the notes are taken appropriately. Although the meeting has ended the work is still incomplete.
What was covered in the meeting needs to be put down in a written form so that everyone can come to know about it? A discussion is meaningless if it is not followed through. Distribute the necessary papers to everyone or if it is not complete then make sure it reaches them as soon as possible.
Thank all the people who have participated in the meeting and whose attendance has made it possible to achieve viable results. Appreciating their time makes them happy and the next time they will come better prepared.
