4 Powerful Techniques for Smarter Meetings
Facilitate highly effective meetings with four proven techniques that will make your meetings more productive.
Whether you’re in a startup, part of a multinational corporation, or run your own business, meetings are a significant part of making any business successful. And your ability to lead meetings that are purpose-driven and productive for everyone involved can go a long way.
Hold great interviews and you’ll find and attract great candidates.
Become an expert at sales calls and you’ll close more deals.
Host smart internal meetings and you’ll boost the way your team collaborates.
However, despite the obvious advantages of learning to have successful meetings — it’s surprising how many businesses are still doing them wrong. One report found that businesses in the United States, on average, waste $37 billion a year on ineffective meetings.
Needless to say, that’s a huge loss. And frankly, it’s a missed opportunity to do truly innovative work.
After all, meetings should be about bringing people together, pulling on diverse thinking styles, and leveraging collective creativity.
So, if that isn’t how you would describe your last meeting, then we suggest you read on.
By mastering smarter meetings, you’ll stop dreading office meetings and accomplish more with your team members and clients. You’ll also be able to provide the “secret sauce” that could boost your company’s culture (and bottom line).
Beyond the obvious advice on punctuality, preparation, and a good attitude — here are four powerful techniques that can help you have smarter meetings right now.
1. Don’t book it yourself
Perception is powerful. Whether you realize it or not, your chance to make a good first impression starts right at the meeting request stage. It’s an early touchpoint with a candidate, prospect, or manager that can be the difference between “accept” or “decline”.
A long, manual scheduling process is a quick way to derail any momentum or enthusiasm for your meeting.
Skip outdated back-and-forth scheduling emails and set the right tone by using meeting scheduling software.
The right meeting scheduling software will relieve you of ever having to ask or answer questions such as…
“When are you free to meet this week?”
“Does Thursday at 1:30 pm work for you?”
“What does your schedule look like next month?”
A good meeting scheduling tool will get you from meeting requested to meeting booked faster. Plus, it’ll save everyone involved a lot of time and energy, which is always appreciated in any workplace.
Ensuring you and your team have the right scheduling software is the first step on your way to smarter meetings.
2. Start with why
Starting with why may be a crucial part of leadership, but it’s also critical to the success of your meetings.
Smart meetings have a clearly defined purpose.
Do you need ideas for a sales campaign?
Are you looking to revamp your hiring process?
It’s important to ask yourself why you’re having the meeting at all. Once you have that nailed down, then communicate your “why” to your invitees.
So, how do you express your meeting’s purpose? Through the meeting agenda.
Your meeting agenda is a fool-proof way to avoid confusion and keep everyone on the same page.
A smart meeting agenda ought to include a brief overview (preferably in point-form) that highlights action items and discussion points of the meeting. In some cases, providing additional resources such as links to documents or websites can also be helpful.
An effective meeting agenda will ensure your invitees have a good sense of what to expect and show up prepared.
Examples of effective meeting agendas.
3. Invite the right people
Okay, so you’ve drafted a solid meeting agenda. Next up: it’s time to determine who belongs in the meeting.
In the Art of Gathering, Priya Parker, master facilitator and author, writes about the importance of being selective about who you invite to your meetings.
“Faced with people who should not, in theory, be [at your gathering] but are hard to keep away, it can feel easier and more generous to go with the flow. But the thoughtful gatherer understands that inclusion can in fact be uncharitable, and exclusion generous.”
Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering
When it comes to your smart meeting, “the more the merrier” isn’t the best approach. We suggest referencing the why of your meeting to determine who can most meaningfully contribute to your meeting’s purpose.
It’s also important to remember that different kinds of meetings call for different participants.
Looking to have an internal creative brainstorm? You can likely be more liberal with who you invite.
Want to quickly move a business strategy forward? Narrow down that invitee list.
Having the right people in the room creates better discussions, which leads to smarter meetings.
4. Be a facilitator
By now, you’ve automated your scheduling process, created a strong agenda, and invited the right people. Now, it’s time to think about the most critical part of smart meetings: your role.
Whether you’re leading a sales call, screening a candidate, or hosting an internal team meeting, your role and your ability to own it confidently matters.
That’s why we recommend thinking of yourself as a facilitator. Good facilitators direct conversations. They create space for good discussions, help groups stay focused, and make sure everyone understands the purpose of the meeting.
Here are some quick facilitation tips for your next meeting:
State the goal of the meeting and review the agenda at the start
Ask your attendees if this aligns with their own goals for the meeting (this is especially important in sales meetings)
Confidently interject if the meeting goes too far off-topic and remind the group of your meeting’s purpose
At the end of the meeting, recap the most important points and share the next steps
Thank everyone for their time and book a follow-up meeting if needed
Ultimately, your ability to be a good facilitator helps people feel more engaged and leaves everyone feeling like their time was put to good use.
Master these four smart meeting techniques and you’ll turn complex business challenges into conversations that fuel solutions, partnerships, and positive growth for everyone involved.
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