A guide to making your meetings more effective
Who hasn’t participated in a long meeting with the impression that the problem at the origin of the meeting is not being addressed? Nothing is more frustrating than wasting time with unproductive meetings… Discover our 4 tips for a well-organised meeting, because yes, meetings mean preparation!
One meeting = one objective
To avoid ineffective meetings, the first step is to define the reason for the meeting. Is it to validate the final version of an internal document? to choose between two solutions? to define an action plan that you can pass on to the various departments concerned?
Your objective must be tangible, and this must be the main theme of your meeting. To involve employees as much as possible, formulate it as a problem to be solved. Based on this, you can determine the right format for your meeting.
In the time available, you must be able to answer your problem. So, pay attention to the timing and don’t hesitate to appoint a time master. To save time, share the meeting agenda with the participants 1 week beforehand. This will allow them to think ahead, and they will arrive at the meeting with answers that will help you move forward more quickly.
Preparation: the key to a successful meeting
Everything starts before your meeting. Preparing for your meeting is essential, and you need to make time for it in your schedule.
Here are the subjects you need to consider before your meeting:
- The structure of your meeting and the different steps that will lead you to your objective. As you would for a presentation, it’s ideal to make an outline, which you can refer to during your meeting, as a guideline.
- Materials you may need: smartchart pad, sticky notes, different coloured pens, etc.
- Tactics to use to get everyone’s opinion during the meeting.
- The strategy to adopt in order to stay in control of the time.
After thinking about these points, compile the most important information in a handwritten note. Scan it before your meeting with the SCRIBZEE mobile app and put a reminder on it. You won’t forget to read it again before the meeting. This will be the ideal way to remind you of the objective and the course of the meeting to follow.
Minutes to keep everyone up to date:
For a more interactive and collaborative meeting, taking notes on a flipchart or on paper is ideal. It’s also very practical making meeting minutes.
Save time by scanning your flipchart with SCRIBZEE to summarise your thoughts and especially your decision making. This can be completed, if necessary, by a summary of your initial problem.
Don’t forget to share this report with your team via SCRIBZEE after having scanned the different elements.
Follow-up on the project over time:
Too often, the meeting takes place and afterwards… it’s dead calm. Everyone has written down their tasks but there is no real follow-up in project mode. Each employee works in silos on what he or she must do, and the execution of tasks remains rather opaque.
To avoid this pitfall, don’t hesitate to track the progress of tasks in SCRIBZEE. You can add a status to the report that you have scanned in beforehand. These customisable statuses will track the progress of your tasks. This way, you can keep track of everyone’s accomplishments and ensure that the project moves forward as quickly as possible.
Planning and preparation are the keys to successful meetings. The more they are framed in advance, the more flexibility you will have to implement them. It will avoid wasting your time and that of your colleagues.