A successful meeting has three phases:
Phase 1: Preparation
Always ask a few questions before you start:
- What is the main goal? (the email Subject:)
- What are the topics of the meeting?
- What are the expected results for each topic?
- Who has to join the meeting? (the email To:)
- Who will be interested? (the email Cc:)
- Can the goal be achieved in a different way?
- Are the selection of topics and participants homogeneous? Is it possible to split the meeting? To refactor the meeting?
Actions:
- Check that the meeting room is available, and reserve it. Sometimes the room will be occupied by your boss, and he has a more important meeting than you.
- Reserve 15 minutes more time than you think you'll need.
- Check that all the equipment you need is available.
- Invite the participants directly and at least one day before the meeting.
- Check the schedule of the participants to make sure they can make it.
- Inform any interested people about the meeting.
- Include an agenda with the invitation.
- Assign the recorder and moderator.
The result of the preparation is the Agenda.
The Agenda contains:
- Place
- Time and date, duration
- Participants
- Topics with description, goal, owner and estimated time
- Moderator
- Recorder
- If a regular meeting, the last minutes of the meeting and the goals achieved and issues still open
- A hint about the penalty if a participant is late
And keep in mind:
- Fewer participants is better.
- If a goal is to generate work, invite those who must do this work, or at least one who will be responsible.
- Fewer topics is better.
- Describe the topics in two to five sentences.
- Describe the goal for each topic along with any related information.
- Always assign a topic owner.
Phase 2: During the meeting
Actions:
- Welcome all participants, and say a few words about the main goal.
- If it's a regular meeting check the last goal list.
- Assign work only to the participants. A participant can delegate work, but is still himself responsible to see that it gets done.
- Be as brief as possible.
- Moderate the meeting.
- Avoid off-topic discussions.
- Avoid discussions that are relevant only to some of the participants. Suggest an action item, that these participants discuss the issue off-line.
- Avoid long discussions over complex issues. Move the discussion to its own meeting, with its own agenda.
Ending:
- Make a summary of the goal achieved and the results.
- Thank the participants.
Phase 3: After the meeting
Actions:
- Stay for a few minutes for further questions. These questions may be off-topic, but they can be helpful in planning the next meeting.
- The recorder should write and publish the minutes immediately after the meeting.
- The minutes are similar to the agenda, except they include the actual participants, start, duration, and results.
A SuccessfulMeeting will not lead to the creation of any MeetingHaiku.