Some useful tips on planning and conducting a business meeting

The “new thinking” that often pervades Business Management text books, seminars and trainingrncourses are that meetings are a waste of time. Whilst it’s true that an over-abundance of unproductivernmeetings are no good to anybody, business meetings still have an important role to play in businessrndecision making, delegation and communication.

To remove some of the negative associations of “Business Meetings” it is important that they arernplanned and conducted as effectively as possible.

Planning a Business Meeting
It is worth asking ourselves the following questions:

• Is the meeting absolutely necessary?
  Do you need to call the whole department if only a few members hold the relevant information? Can anrnalternative to the meeting (such as a conference phone-call, group email, etc) be as effective.
• Who is required to attend?
  Keep the numbers as small and specific as possible. Smaller groups are more productive and it is muchrnharder getting larger groups to reach agreement and stay on track. If necessary, it can be a good idea torninvite people to certain sections of the meeting. An example of this is meeting with the supervisors andrnthen having the staff in at the end of the meeting to communicate the decisions reached.
• Has an agenda been circulated?
  Having an agenda keeps people focused and adds much needed structure to the meeting. Ensure thatrnthe agenda is circulated ahead of time and it is as clear and concise as possible.
• Are visual aids required and understood?
  Visual aids help get points across quickly and succinctly. When conducting a meeting you need to ensurernthat the data is accurate, understand where it fits with the agenda and try to anticipate any likelyrnquestions.
• Conducting the Meeting
  The following tips will help you conduct a business meeting:
• Always start at the assigned time
  The agenda has been circulated in advance so everybody knows the correct start time. Waiting forrnlatecomers, or stopping the meeting to tell them what they have missed will make the meeting run overrntime. This will inconvenience those that did make it on time. Also, if people know you will start withoutrnthem they will be inclined to improve their time management for your next meeting.
• Start with the easier issues
  Start with easily resolvable issues first and leave the more challenging ones until the end. By solving therneasier problems first, the participants will have developed a sense of rapport and successfully exercisedrntheir problem solving skills. It will also help the overall productivity of the meeting getting the easierrntasks resolved first. You will then know exactly how much time you have left for the weightier problems.
• Be strict with time management
  Try to plan an amount of time for each agenda item and stick to it. If the dialogue is going in circles orrnno solution looks imminent then note the progress made and move on. Don’t try to force a resolution asrnsome issues could take weeks or months to resolve.
Continue unresolved topics at later meetings
It’s always best to try and resolve as much as possible in the original meeting. However, new problemsrnmay come to light, or more data could be required to solve certain issues. Make a note of all unresolvedrnissues and schedule them for the next meeting, or arrange a smaller meeting with the individualsrndirectly connected to the issue.