10 ways to run an effective meeting

We’ve all been in meetings where participants are unprepared and the topics discussed are a waste of everyone’s time. These problems stem from poor agenda design. Here are some tips on how to successfully set up an agenda for your next meeting.

1. Seek input from team members. If you want your team to be engaged in meetings, make sure the agenda includes items that reflect their needs.

2. Select topics that affect the entire team.

3. List agenda topics as questions the team needs to answer. A question enables team members to better prepare for the discussion and monitor whether their own and others' comments are on track.

4. Note whether the purpose of the topic is to share information, seek input for a decision, or make a decision.

5. Estimate a realistic amount of time for each topic.

6. Propose a process for addressing each agenda item. The process for addressing an item should appear on the written agenda.

7. Specify how members should prepare for the meeting. Distribute the agenda with sufficient time before the meeting, so the team can read background materials and prepare their initial thoughts for each agenda item ahead of time.

8. Identify who is responsible for leading each topic. Someone other than the formal meeting leader is often responsible for leading the discussion of a particular agenda item. Identifying this person next to the agenda item ensures that anyone who is responsible for leading part of the agenda knows it – and prepares for it – before the meeting.

9. Make the first topic "review and modify agenda as needed". Even if you and your team have jointly developed the agenda before the meeting, take a minute to see if anything needs to be changed due to late-breaking events.

10. End the meeting with a plus/delta. If your team meets regularly, two questions form a simple continuous improvement process: What did we do well? What do we want to do differently for the next meeting? Investing five or ten minutes will enable the team to improve performance, working relationships and team member satisfaction.