L2L Group

It has been widely observed across organizations everywhere that meetings tend to take an inordinately large amount of the available working time of employees - and more often than not, these meetings fail to achieve the necessary ends.

To begin with, we need to recognize the features of a successful meeting. In a "nut shell", these features can be put forward as result oriented and restricted to a stipulated time frame. Let's take a closer look at some key steps that need to be followed for effectively conducting a business meeting.

1. Preparation - Like any other business activity, advanced preparation is required, as the better prepared you are, the more effective the meeting will be. Besides, this way you will be able to make much more meaningful contributions.
2. Timing - A business meeting should be conducted according to a time frame, and it should commence and end by the specified time. Scheduled meetings which are task oriented generally receive significantly more active participation.
3. Agenda - There should be an agenda which specifically states the topics to be included in the meeting. This agenda will give a fair idea of what is to be discussed, thereby enabling all of the participants to prepare in advance for the proposed topics.
4. Focus - It's important that the focus of the meeting should be maintained steadfastly on the topics which were agreed beforehand - as it is very easy for a meeting to veer off in a different direction, therefore meeting leaders and participants must strive towards minimizing these drifts from the set aim.
5. Communication - Complete and accurate information should always be provided in every meeting to ensure effective communication.
6. Agreement - Often during a meeting, the views of two or more people won't match, but it's crucial that at the end of the meeting all of the participants agree on a common decision. After all, this unilateral agreement on a single line of action is the common aim of every meeting.
7. Feedback - A meeting may be successful in achieving the desired result; however there may still be room for improvement in the overall method or implementation. To have a clear idea how effective the meeting was, request feedback from the participants.
8. Confidentiality - The confidential material discussed in the meeting should be restricted to the attendants only, and if possible, measures should be taken to ensure that unauthorized persons can't access any of the restricted documents or materials.

Finally, at the end of the meeting, a brief review should be discussed, covering what was discussed during the meeting as well as any major decisions which were agreed upon.