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Checklist for Efficient Meetings

How to Avoid Wasting Time in Inefficient Meetings

Good meeting skills and meeting etiquette aren’t rocket science. However, many work communities still seem to encounter problems here. By keeping the following things in mind, our meetings are set up to become one notch more efficient and meaningful to attend.

When Planning a Meeting

• Make sure a meeting is a right format for the issue at hand. Some things are better-taken care of in a short call or with a few chat messages
• If the audience for the meeting is large, it might be better to divide the meeting into several smaller ones. This way participants don’t need to spend time listening to details irrelevant to them. For example, the technical side of the project has its own meeting and the communication part on its own. After this, they come together for a short common meeting
• In case the meeting will take more than 1.5 hours, plan a break in the middle. Your brain will thank you and the meeting will benefit

When Inviting to a Meeting

• Make sure everyone invited is needed at the meeting. In case you are unsure, use your email client’s “optional attendance” alternative for these people. This way they know they have to decide for themselves
• Send the invitation in time. For meetings that require preparation, at least 1 week beforehand. A shorter period implicates that you don’t value your colleagues’ time
• Write a meeting description in the invitation headline that is clear to all participants. Even though you know what “Sales P&S ” means (monthly sales meeting for the Pants & Socks department), other people invited to the meeting might not.
• Keep the invitation text short and if preparations need to be made or there is an RSVP deadline, highlight these. Do, however, make sure that there is enough text to clarify the aim of the meeting and its agenda
• Double-check that your recipient list is correct. It is not funny to explain why somebody wasn’t invited to an important meeting or why sensitive info was sent to the wrong person

When Signing up for a Meeting

• Respond to a meeting invitation immediately when you know whether you can come. If too few can make it, the meeting can be canceled in good time
• Make sure to use your email client’s reminder function. Why make your life harder than it already is?
• If you lead the meeting or present a topic, prepare yourself and all relevant material properly before the meeting. Your colleagues didn’t come to the meeting to hear that half of the project report was left on your breakfast table

When Attending a Meeting

• Be on time, especially if you are leading the meeting or are presenting a topic. Anything else shows that you don’t value your colleagues’ time.
• Mute your phone. No need for explanations.
• Don’t answer your (muted) phone. No, it doesn’t matter that it is from your child’s daycare/your insurance company/your demented mother, they can wait until the meeting is finished. You have no obligation to be available every single second of the day. In case you have an unpostponable phone appointment (for example a doctor’s call), inform the other meeting attendees about this and don’t answer before you have closed the door to the (physical or virtual) meeting room behind you
• Stick to the agenda. Your colleagues have reserved time for the topics listed in the meeting invitation, not to hear about the cool, but an unrelated idea you just came up with
• Finish the meeting in time. You have no right to keep your colleagues longer than you had originally informed about

When Summarizing a Meeting

• Write a short and concise meeting memo after the meeting. Remember to include the action plans, their deadlines, and responsible persons
• Make sure that the meeting memo is made available to all relevant persons. If needed also to other ones than those who attended the meeting.

This is an edited and updated version of an article originally published on my LinkedIn page.