Meetings can often be seen as a time sink if they're not managed correctly. To ensure productivity and inspire a positive approach to them in your workplace why not try out the tips we've listed below.
Invite the right people
Before a meeting starts, it's important that you carefully consider who needs to be there and why. Selecting the right participants and communicating their role within the meeting will keep it on track, so use software such as Doodle to send invites. Both Outlook and Microsoft Teams also have invite functionalities, so you can easily add meetings to staff members' calendars.
Make sure they are free
Its good to talk to attendees prior to booking the time out in their diary, discuss the meeting and its purpose via phone or face to face. A classic mistake here also is to book out their time when they have something else scheduled in, or 'back to backing' with another appointment. This can be met with frustration, so always check everyone's diaries first or send a group email with suggested dates prior to sending out the invites.
Don't leave setting up until the last minute
Meetings are renowned for taking up valuable time, so make sure you have everything set up well in advance, including any TVs, interactive displays or whiteboards you require. That way everyone feels like they are making the most of their time.
Set specific roles
Giving attendees a specific role to play during the meeting can also increase engagement and focus, so make sure each person knows what you expect from them beforehand. For example, if you need someone to take notes, ask them to arrive early to set up the mobile writing surface.
Make an agenda
During the meeting, there are many productivity tools you can use to make sure everyone stays on task. For example, list-making applications such as Trello have dedicated boards where you can create a structured agenda. This way, attendees know what to expect and can add cards to the “This Week” list if there's anything they wish to discuss. Once there are no more cards left, the meeting is complete. You can also set up actions from the meetings and timeframes to complete them in Trello, this is easily done in Microsoft Teams too. This ensures important actions are noted, assigned and monitored to completion.
Encourage attendees to brainstorm
Another great option is mind-mapping software such as MindMeister. It allows you to share mind maps with an unlimited number of team members and brainstorm with them in real-time, which is perfect for meetings. By trying out the above tips, you can easily turn around any apathy you might face around meetings. With attendees being more informed and prepared, they will start to trust in your meeting process and inevitably become more productive. To find out more about how audiovisual and writing surfaces can improve productivity and engagement in your meetings, contact us at Unity AV today.