Working Life > Competencies > Skills > Communication > Meeting

Running a Meeting Successfully

No company, no organisation can do without them: meetings, workshops, conferences, conventions, sessions, appointments, congresses are an important means of communication between colleagues and executives within the own department and beyond departmental borders as well as with customers and suppliers. The purpose of a meeting lies in the exchanging of information, trying to find a solution to a problem or finding a decision. Studies show that many employees spend up to 60 % of their working hours in meetings. The more important it is to make use of this time in an effective way.

• First of all, always clarify whether the meeting is really necessary or can be replaced by a circular, an email or a telephone call
• Prepare a meeting thoroughly: participants, date and place, duration, preparatory documents, preliminary talks, objective or topic
• Make invitations in writing announcing the participants, place and date. Attach preparatory documents where necessary
• Determine the results you wish to obtain
• Specify a period
• Organize a room that is large enough and light enough, quiet and well air-conditioned and provides the necessary infrastructure, e.g. beamer, flip chart. Cater for drinks
• Pay attention to punctuality
• Open the meeting with an address of welcome and then naming and describing the purpose of the meeting. Write down the topic so it is visible to everyone
• Define rule of communication
• Define a moderator who will be accepted by the participants. He/she should be assertive, guide the discussion purposely, stick to the agenda and schedule and behave in a neutral way contentwise
• Visualize all important contents and results
• Plan breaks for longer meetings. Attention relaxes after 90 minutes of concentrating
• Writing minutes. You can appoint a recorder or note the results on a board parallel to the meeting. Bear in mind that few people like recording the minutes. Provide a fair solution
• Being undisturbed should be self-evident. Thus, prohibit mobile phones and persistent coming and going. However, it can be sensible to switch the participants of the meeting from time to time. In that case, take a break after closing the topic so that participants, who are no longer required, can leave the room and new ones come in
• Make sure that all participants can contribute to important points and that the workshop is not ruled by a few
• Important rules
  • Keep the number of participants as low as possible but make sure that decisions can be made and those responsible are present
  • Avoid meetings after lunch or in the late afternoon. These are times when the performance level is at its lowest. Do not set meetings lasting several hours
  • Do not let the meeting turn into a technical battle. A flip chart or a whiteboard are more than sufficient to document ideas, thoughts, results, drawings and open topics
  • If an item cannot be agreed upon, then adjourn it
• Close meetings within the planned schedule with a summary and a definition of the tasks. Who has to do what by when? If necessary, set a new date. A catalogue of measures is good for this
• When closing the meeting, thanks the participants for their co-operation and the results obtained
• Make sure that "homework" is done within the time planned

Besides these "formal" aspects of a meeting, the social aspects should also be taken care of. Among these are:

• If the participants do not know each other, then begin with a short round of introductions
• The moderator must cater for the sensitivities of the participants. In doing so, he/she should respond to fears, obvious irritations, incomprehension, nut also tiredness and disinterest. The best way is asking
• Especially in circles participants who do not know each other (well), it is important to facilitate small talk. That is a good opportunity for the participants to communicate on a relationship level and to agree on the actual topic faster
• Power games and showmanship are normal behaviour especially among men. The moderator should intervene in the case of lengthy explanations and unfair behaviour
• Meetings show well how co-operations between individuals and teams work. As moderator and participant, you should thus read between the lines
• Meeting rooms are not always the suitable place. Prickly topics in particular can often be spoken about in neutral places outside the company
• Use mixed seating plans that do not indicate hierarchy and make sure the participants can see each other without barriers

• @ you: btw the meeting ended 15 min ago ;-); NBC, June 12, 2009