Why should you want to run an effective meeting, you say? Don’t I do a good enough job already? Well there is always room for improvement. And wouldn’t you want the outcomes of your meeting to include:
• Alignment with organizational goals and objectives
• Participants’ buy-in & support to initiative or project (you want them to be advocates!)
• Participants understand next steps and their responsibilities
• Participants feel good about themselves and the group
• Participants willingly and openly share their ideas and concerns
• Participants work together constructively and positively

There are four parts in planning an effective meeting and all are required prior to actually setting a meeting up. I speak from experience. As an integrated marketing professional I was often the one setting up and running meetings where I needed to drive cross-functional collaboration among as many as 10 internal departments and external partners. At these meetings I needed to drive action, collaboration and results. My best meetings were those I prepared for in this manner.

Four Stages to Planning Meeting(s)
1. Determine “Is a meeting necessary?”
2. Details
3. Agenda

4. Prepare & Practice

Stage 1: Meeting
How do you determine if a meeting is necessary and what type of meeting it should be? Read on for a few thought starters.

When to call a meeting:
• Situations include: complicated situation; problems arising, such as external issues or internal issues (personnel); preparation for project/event

Type of meeting:
• Examples include: standing meeting, topical meeting (discuss a specific topic), formal vs. informal, personal, planning, reporting, administrative, problem solving, presentation, conference, emergency meeting

Purpose of the meeting:
• What should the outcome be? A few ideas include: point of view, recommendation, idea generation and so on.

Guest list:
• Invite only those whose input is needed. Let the purpose of the meeting, not the politics, dictate who attends.

Stage 2: The Details
Knowing that meetings are routine to us all, I’ll just quickly list items you should consider. First item is to inform participants of any preparation they must complete prior to meeting and be sure to reinforce this outside of the meeting notice. We know how emails and contents within can be easily overlooked.

• Time – determined by purpose, less than 90 minutes; if longer, schedule breaks
• Supplies – bring them with or arrange for them to be in the room
• Prepare visual aids
• Arrange for AV equipment if necessary; test it before meeting starts (have a back up if equipment fails you!)
• Identify specific roles of other participants such as Timekeeper and Recorder (minutes/notes)

Stage 3: Meeting Agenda
Remember you need to set expectations and an agenda helps. It is best to create two agendas – one for the attendees and one for the meeting leader. The attendee agenda should lists topics, speakers and allotted time. It is a best practice to distribute agenda in advance of meeting (at least 2 days in advance) so that those expectations are set. The meeting leader agenda helps you keep meeting on track and should list things that must be covered before leaving the meeting.

An agenda provides:
• Protocol
• A chance to think about the purpose and desired outcomes
• Structure to the conversation that helps time management
• That the group has made good decisions and is ready to accomplish its next steps

Agenda specifics include:
• Meeting start & end times with location
• Clear meeting objectives
• Topic headings – include some detail
• Allocate time to each agenda item (with some flexibility)
• Indicate which meeting participants are expected to be the leaders

Step 4: Prepare & Practice
No matter how informal the meeting, preparation in advance can improve the effectiveness of the meeting itself. Visualization! Visualize in advance how the meeting will unfold, who will stand/sit where, how long the presentations will last and how the meeting will be organized.

Photo: Amy Mikel, 2008. Waiheke Island's Mudbrick Vineyard & Restaurant, New Zealand (where I wish I held all my meetings at!)