How to Make Business Meetings More Productive

Meetings often waste time. Unimportant discussions, distractions from more important work, opportunities for procrastination, you name it; it’s regularly an unproductive event. While they’re theoretically supposed to boost the prospects of the company, the meeting won’t be the thing that gets companies to soar to success and enjoy luxuries like private jet hire in the future. Done wrong, it holds firms back from success!

Still, this is hardly an original idea as many people are of the same opinion. Consequently, it’s worth asking the question; how can businesses make meetings more productive?

Set an Established Agenda

Before any meeting takes place, be sure to establish a very clear agenda from the outset. In the case of an internal meeting, be sure to bullet point discussion topics and organise the order in which employees or department representatives speak. Gather all the data and figures that may be discussed too. This will give a sense trajectory to the meeting instead of perpetuating a chaotic rambling of unrelated ideas.

However, the process changes slightly if you’re meeting clients. Outline all the questions you’d ever want to ask, and perhaps even go so far as to map out a hypothetical conversation between you and the client. Once again, come equipped with your data also. Try to anticipate the questions they may ask you too and plan potential answers. This way, nothing will catch you off guard, and the proceedings will flow smoothly without delay.

Concise Language

Inflated and confusing language is the bane of every business. There’s no point talking if people don’t know what you’re talking about, whether it’s in your marketing strategies or company meetings. Concise language is always best; it communicates ideas with clarity and ensures everyone is on the same page.

Remember, big and confusing sentences that are loaded with jargon don’t make you or your business look smart or well put together. Instead, employees and companies will just interpret this as chest inflating and showboating. Demystify the company wherever you can, especially in company meetings. After all, different departments need to understand each other perfectly, even without being trained to assume each other’s roles. Playing it simple is often playing it safe too, so if you can use five words where before you may have used twenty, change strategy here.

 Selective Invites

Two points have been covered so far, and it’s important that everyone adheres to this way of thinking in your business, not just you. If you know for a fact that certain workers do not or will not abide by these kinds of strategies, do not invite them to your meetings. They will take time away from the productive conversation, and overall detract from the focused atmosphere.

Remember, the meeting room is not a place to ramble or blabber on about weekend plans. There’s always an aim to reach or a problem to solve, so if you’re leaving meetings feeling the same as you did when you went in, you just wasted yours and everybody else’s time. Eliminate discussions of weekend plans or any non-work talk and get rid of those people who initiate them; there’s no time for it!