MEETINGEFFICIENCYHACKS

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20% - 25% of meeting time is considered“wasted,” and executives spend 1/3 of theirworkweek in meetings. BUT, more than 90%of projects fail because of poor planning.(Forbes)

Nobody wants his or her time wasted. Shake up theboring status quo with these 6 meeting efficiency hacks.

"Set it and forget it." Great for infomercialchickens, not great for planning meetings.

1 Skip the meeting preamble by masteringthe meeting invite.

Get people up to speed before they walk in the door, so you candive right in. Always include in the description:

The purpose: Why are you meeting The objective (outcome): What needs to happen by the end ofthe meeting

2 Break the “meetings-have-to-be-30-minutes-or-1-hour” scheduling habit.

Can you meet for 15 min? What about 45 min? Not only do yougive time back to your coworkers, you create EFFECTIVEMEETING ROLLOVER: people get to their next meeting on time,and the room is vacated for the next group.

3 Weigh your attendee list.

Is each person essential? Consider their contribution against theagenda. If you’re unsure, add them as optional and let them be thejudge.

PRO TIP: “Meeting Minimalism.” The late Apple CEO Steve

Jobs kept meetings as small as possible, believing that too

many minds in a room got in the way of simplicity.

4 Make the agenda specific to theattendees and send it ahead of time.

PRO TIP: Assign a timekeeper to keep an eye

on the clock and let you know if you’re falling

behind schedule. 

The agenda should ensure the meeting is relevant for everyoneattending. It should also allow them to come prepared withquestions, materials, or insights.

5 Use a “parking lot” strategy for offtopic discussions.

Pro­tip: Assign a “traffic cop” to manage the

parking lot, keeping a list of items that will

require post­meeting follow up.

Establish a “parking lot” before the meeting kicks off. If acompelling point, topic, or question arises that detours from theagenda, quickly designate it to the parking lot and move on. Thisstrategy creates a list of items that will require follow up, butallow the meeting to stay on course.

Establish a “parking lot” before the meeting kicks off. If acompelling point, topic, or question arises that detours from theagenda, quickly designate it to the parking lot and move on. Thisstrategy creates a list of items that will require follow up, butallow the meeting to stay on course.

6Avoid the conference call and meetface-to-face. If everyone can’t be therein person, meet over video.

It’s proven that people aremore attentive and retainmore information whenspeaking face-to-face,meaning you can accomplishmore in less time. Not tomention that 55% of allmessage interpretation isfrom facial expression andbody language. (Forbes)

With Americans sitting through some 11 million meetingsevery day, and the unproductive ones costing companies$37 billion a year, it’s increasingly important to make themost of every meeting. (Business Insider)

Check out the State of the Modern Meeting Infographic tosee how video is rapidly transforming the way we meet.

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