Business Meeting

Productive and Effective Meetings

Here are some pointers to assist you in making your next meeting interesting, effective, and successful. 

Before 

1. Why are you having the meeting?

2. Make a list with key speakers in your meeting. Coming together before the meeting to talk about what will be discussed will ensure that everyone is on the same page and has the same intentions.

3. Hand out the list of topics to be discussed as well as any important background information. If there are any longer documents that have to do with the meeting, then make sure and get these to the people that will be in the meeting beforehand and with enough time! We want everyone to be as up-to-date as possible. 

4. Select a good time for your meeting. Also, set a time limit for your meeting and follow that time limit as best you can. If you find that there are too many topics to cover in one meeting, then break the meeting into two meetings. People can get frustrated if a meeting is taking too long, so be careful in step 2 when figuring out what all to discuss.  

5. Think about the set up of the room that you are in. Is it better to have people in a round table discussion? Would a semi-circle be more appropriate? Are you the sole leader of the group? How many people will there be in the meeting? Think about these factors when choosing the place for your meeting. 

6. Think about the actual room itself! Is it big enough? Will the people in the meeting be comfortable enough to work productively?  

7. Keep their attention with visual aids! For example: graphs, posters, charts, powerpoint presentations, etc. Also post a list of topics to be covered so that people know how far along the meeting has come. You can even cross off topics to show that the meeting is coming along well. 

8. Think about the needs of the people in the meeting. Be sure everyone knows where they need to go and when they need to be there. 

During 

1. Make the people at your meeting feel welcome. If someone arrives late to the meeting, they will more than likely feel embarrassed or nervous. If you can, welcome them as well and invite them into the group.  

2. Provide the people in your meeting with something to drink! Everyone will be more refreshed and comfortable. This is also very inviting as well.  

3. Get started on time and finish on time. 

4. Briefly go through the list of topics to be discussed and move along. 

5. Do not get off topic. Use the topics that you decided upon before the meeting. If an additional off topic question comes up, address it and tell the person that this topic can be talked about privately or at a different time.  

6. Ask for opinions and ideas! The people in your meeting might have some solutions that you did not think of. The quality of your discussion will be increased greatly. This will make the people in your meeting feel empowered and they will be more motivated to be there.  

7. Ask for feedback! It takes practice to produce and carry out highly productive meetings. Get some suggestions from people at the meeting about how to make things better. 

8. End topics decisively and in a constructive manner. If a discussion is not going anywhere, then make sure that it does not become counter productive or even destructive. 

9. Have someone take notes during the meeting. You do not want a great suggestion to be forgotten! You can also refer back to these notes if a problem, question, or confusion comes up after the meeting. 

10. Be a listener, show interest in the opinions of others, and show that you appreciate everyone being there and working as a team. Do not be afraid to admit your own mistakes or faults. 

11. Close the meeting by shortly talking about the decisions made during the meeting. If there are any open topics make sure to address that and end on a positive note. 

12. Mention a meeting in the future, communicate anything that needs to be communicated while you still have everyone in the room! If you can, give the group the time, place, and date of a future meeting. 

After 

1. Send out the notes that were taken during the meeting so that everyone has a reminder about what was discussed and suggested. Do this within at least a week, but sooner would not be a bad idea. Three days after the meeting is acceptable.  

2. Talk about issues of organization or topic matter with people on your level (your direct peers). Find some ways to improve the way the meeting was conducted. 

3. Make sure that your team knows what they should be doing and when they should be doing it. Everyone must do their part to make sure that everything gets done. 

4. Tell people that they have done or are doing an excellent job when they are doing it! Positive reinforcement is essential! 

5. Figure out which topics were left unfinished for the next meeting. 

6. Have yourself evaluated. Ask the people in your meetings if there is anything that needs to be changed about the meeting itself (i.e. time, location, duration, etc.). The more you know about the needs of the people in our meeting, the more productive your meetings will be! 

Meeting Vocabulary

GO! 

Thank you all for being here, let's get started.

I appreciate you all being here. Let’s start the meeting. 

Welcome everyone, we are here to discuss... (topic overview point)

Welcome, today we will be talking about... (topic overview point)

The meeting is now in secession. (very formal)

Discuss the Issues 

The first order of business is to discuss...

The first item on our agenda is... 

The first thing on the list is... 

First, we need to address... 

Talking About Options 

We have several different options here:... 

We have (# of) options in this case:

Have we considered...

As an alternative, we could...

Instead of... we could...

We could either..., or...

Keep It Moving 

We can now move along to...(topic)

Let's go on to the next order of business.

We have to keep moving along.

The next item (to be talked about) is...

We need to go on to the next item.

Can/Shall/Should we move on?

Hold On Just a Second... 

Before we move on, I think we need to address... 

Just a minute. We haven't discussed... 

I’m sorry, but we didn’t talk about...

I have another (idea/opinion) about...

Don't you think we should address... 

Clear the Air... 

I’m sorry, what do you mean by...

I not sure I quite follow you.

I didn't understand what you meant by...

Could you please explain that further?

Could you describe that (situation) in more detail?

Making a Suggestion/Proposal 

I think (we could)...

Maybe it would be better if we...

I think that...

Why don't we...?

How about we...?

Would it be possible to...?

Feedback 

(I think) that's a good idea/point.

You make a good point.

I agree.

I disagree. I think...

I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you.

That’s a good point, however,...

I don’t think that’s (such) a good idea, because...

Get Someone’s Opinion

What do you think, (Name)? [Always use names when you can]

What's your opinion on that, (Name)?

Any (more) thoughts about this idea?

Any ideas (on the topic/on this subject)?

Are We on the Same Page? 

Do we all agree (on that)?

Is everyone here of the same opinion? 

Are we all on the same page (now)?

Does everyone agree?

Do we all see eye to eye on this issue?

Wrap It Up 

In conclusion,...

As a result of this meeting, we have decided that...

So, we've made the decision to...

We should wrap up the meeting for today.

In the future we will...

We're going to...

The Closer 

I believe that's all for today.

Thank you all for coming.

Thank you all. Have a good (rest of the day/evening).

Well, that's it then. (informal)

The meeting is adjourned. (very formal)