Business meetings aren’t something everybody looks up to. Business meetings are most often considered as unproductive as well as boring. However, these meetings are still unavoidable and of the most important in the business world.
Many employees may not seem much positive about business meetings getting scheduled every week or month but there is no escape from this. However, business professionals and experts suggest that business meetings do not need to be like that.
If you are the one scheduling the business meeting, here are 6 proven tips from leading professionals of the business world to get most of any meeting.
1) Know The Purpose Of Meeting
Every meeting scheduled by the company should have a clear goal or purpose. If the purpose of the meeting is not clear, it is most likely that the meeting will go off track and you won’t get the desired output. Plan and decide the purpose and goal of the meeting before scheduling one.
Once you know the purpose, include only those employees which are related to the work. Gathering the whole team unnecessarily may waste time. Also, it will make it difficult for you to engage with the people who are actually related to the project.
You can also share the goals of the meeting well in advance with the team members. This will make sure that everyone sticks to the agenda of the meeting. Also, it will cut down the duration of the meeting which would otherwise have wasted on discussing unnecessary topics.
2) Plan The Structure Of The Meeting
A perfect combination of the right agenda and suitable meeting structure is the foundation of a productive business meeting. There are several kinds of meetings like decision-making, innovation, or information-sharing meetings. Plan the nature of the meeting as per your goal.
If it is a decision-making meeting, make sure everyone present in the room gets a chance to put their opinion. If it’s an innovation meeting, employees should take an active part in presenting their ideas. In an information-sharing meeting, you can try to share the information in an interesting and brief manner as longer sessions tend to be less effective.
3) Stick To The Topic
During a meeting even if you have planned everything and started well, there are still chances that discussion can go off-topic. If you notice that happening, try to come back to the decided topic. Also, make sure that you or the employees are not distracted by any other thing.
4) Keep Meeting Engaging
The main reason most employees hate meetings is meetings are usually one way. People tend to get disinterested when the meetings are not engaging. Try to engage with every individual present in the room.
Some people talk a lot in meetings whereas some stay quiet all the time. Do not let few people control the meeting, make sure everyone’s opinion is counted and noted. A meeting where everyone gets to put their opinion are the meetings employees look forward to.
Reading the room is just as important; knowing when people are ready for a break or adjusting course or approach based on reactions amplifies engagement further. There are certain skills that need to be honed in order to salvage the meeting from becoming tedious and unproductive. Public speaking is key in this regard; having the ability to speak clearly, and enunciate points concisely and confidently when addressing a group of individuals can go a long way toward keeping everyone in the meeting attentive and involved. Most professionals in leadership and senior roles participate in public speaking skills training programs and work with professional public speaking coaches in order to learn the techniques and tips that improve message delivery flaws and enhance their speaking presence.
5) Get What You Need
Just having a clear goal isn’t everything. You need to make sure that the motive of the meeting is fulfilled till the end of the meeting. Otherwise, it is just a waste of your and the employees’ time. Write down things you need to accomplish from the meeting. It will help you to keep track of things and then the meeting is less likely to get deviated.
Also, give deadlines to all the things you need to get accomplished. This will make sure everyone is on the same page.
6) Use Of Smart Tools
Instead of standard boring informative meetings, use smart tools to make meetings more interesting and engaging. Use PPTs, colorful graphs to share the information. This will make meetings more fun and less hectic.
Business meetings are such a thing where you meet professionals from different industries and companies. This is a great place to leave a great impression and build contacts. Being well dressed and a positive body language will make a good impression. Whereas the use of nfc business cards instead of traditional business cards will make you look more professional.
Conclusion
Business meetings are unavoidable as well as an important aspect of a business. Everyone acknowledges that they are not interesting or productive. Whereas a most effective meeting is the one in which people engage, the right information is shared and the objective of the meeting is achieved without wasting much of the time.
