Run your meetings in ways that energize rather than dampen enthusiasm for the agenda at hand.  Oh wait, do you have an agenda?

If yes, good for you!  If not, well let’s just say you should.

And please, it’s not enough to hand an agenda out at the beginning of the meeting.  That’s not fair!

People have the right to know what’s supposed to happen before it actually does. Remember to e mail it out ahead of time.  That’s a good start to effective communication.

Meeting best practices guide asking for input on a draft agenda, before it’s finalized.  When you get people involved before the meeting, it always goes much better.

And there are five keys to help folks start to love your meetings!  I call them:

The Bill of (Meeting) Rights:
5 Keys to Help People Love Your Meetings

These are sometimes called ‘Bill’s Meeting Rights.’  At a minimum and  prior to meeting, everyone has the right to know:

1. why they’re meeting;
2. what the purpose of the meeting is;
3. what the priorities are;
4. where it will be, when it will start, when it will end; and
5. what role is expected of them in the meeting.

Use this as a checklist for what should be included in the agenda and distributed before the meeting.  Out of the five above, what’s the most common one left off?  You got it!  It’s the role.

So that begs the question.  What are the different roles people play in meetings?  Here are a few.

The role of Chair is almost always the person who calls the meeting and responsible for the meeting’s content and direction.  The Chair typically gathers input from participants on agenda items as the meeting unfolds, hears points-of-view, and then either makes decisions or defines how decisions will be made.

Chairs get in trouble when they try to also play other meeting roles.  For example, the Facilitator is another key role.  That person’s responsibility is the meeting process – not the content.  The Facilitator keeps the meeting focused (or not), moves through the agenda, and involves everyone to contribute ideas.  To be responsible for both the content and process of any meeting is at best dicey.  At worst, it’s impossible to do both well.  I recommend separating these two roles.

With a Facilitator, the Chair focuses on the discussion content, gathers input, and guides the decision-making – independent of the ‘running the meeting’ role.  As an added benefit, when others facilitate people are challenged to develop their meeting effectiveness skills.

If you take it a step further and rotate the Facilitator role, meetings become not only a training tool but also serve to increase engagement.   You gain the added benefit of creating some variety to spice up your meetings.  The Chair can even appoint different people to facilitate or chair different agenda items.

Other important roles are the Note-taker and Time-keeper.  And of course, the majority of folks will be the actual meeting Participants – a key role that is too often an afterthought.

Consider these factors as you prepare for any meeting.  What’s expected of Participants… besides showing up?  What information do they need to research or prepare prior to meeting?  What are they expected to bring for a particular agenda item?  Will they be asked to share opinions, research ideas, or offer specific recommendations?  All requirements need to be spelled out well in advance to give people thought and preparation time.

The bottom line is obvious.  Avoid at all costs the causes of poorly run meetings:  no or late agendas, unclear roles, and a lack of communication of what’s expected of Participants.  As you prepare for your next meeting, remember this common meetings’ refrain: “When all was said and done, a lot was said and nothing was done.”  Avoid those things that would cause people to sing that refrain about your meetings.  Follow these guidelines!

Participants look forward to meetings that challenge us with high standards and engagement.  They will love your meetings when theses quality guidelines are followed.  Why?  Because things get done rather than left undone!

Let’s all commit to running our meetings in ways that ENERGIZE because they:

• Engage Participants
• Never Lose Sight of Purpose
• Effectively Use Time
• Respect Differences of Perspectives
• Generate Frank Discussions
• Inspire Creative Ideas to Improve
• Zeal to Challenge All to Do Their Best
• Enthusiasm is Created for What’s Next

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on this key communication skill of meeting effectiveness.

A meeting can be either one of your most effective communication tools, or it can be one of your people’s worst nightmares. Did you know that current estimates of the time we spend in all different types of meetings totals about two-thirds of our work time? That’s a huge investment of resources that can be extremely productive or an absolute waste of time.

Here are some meeting statistics to consider:

• 32% of people claim to have seen someone asleep during meetings.
• 55% say that meetings are dominated by 1 or 2 people
• 80% of discussions are about things people already know

The good news is… since most people have such bad experiences in so many meetings, there’s a lot of upside potential for you!

Simply do a few things differently starting with these tips:

1. Send out an e-mail agenda of each meeting ahead of time. As a top executive from one of the largest technology companies in the world — Diane Bryant, CIO, Intel — says: “Every meeting needs an agenda e mailed out beforehand, even if it’s just one on one.” (Fortune Magazine, October 27, 2008)
2. Successful meetings always start on time… no matter what. Never penalize people who are prompt and motivated to be there for people who, for whatever reason, are not there on time.
3. Prioritize how much you take on in each meeting agenda. Less is more.

Use two acronyms to remind yourself and others of what to avoid and what to emphasize in the meetings you run or participate in. Bad meetings DAMPEN energy because they:

• Drain Energy
• Are Unproductive
• Move or Veer Off Track
• Personalities Dominate
• Exhaust Emotions
• Never End (seems like)

Good meetings should ENERGIZE because they:

• Engage Participants
• Never Lose Sight of Purpose
• Effectively Use Time
• Respect Differences of Perspectives
• Generate Frank Discussions
• Inspire Creative Ideas to Improve
• Zeal to Challenge All to Do Their Best
• Enthusiasm is Created for What’s Next

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on this key communication skill of meeting effectiveness.