Ending Meeting Mayhem: Join Me?

How many times a week do you walk out of a meeting or hang up from a conference call and wish you had that hour of your life back?  We've all been to these, and it's likely we've all led them from time to time to.  Perhaps if we start setting a better standard, others will join in and we can put an end to meeting mayhem!  Here are some things I've been trying and have had a lot of success with!

PLANNING THE MEETING (Note, I said planning, not scheduling).

• Really think about if you even need a meeting?  Sometimes a well crafted email is just as effective and can allow people time to think and respond at their convenience.
• Know the goal.  If you can't state it, you aren't ready to schedule a meeting.
• Prepare an agenda in advance.  Send it out with the meeting invite or at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.  
• Based on your goal and agenda, schedule the meeting with the right attendees and for the appropriate length of time.  (Ever been invited to a meeting and the KEY person to provide input isn't there...everyone swims around for 30 minutes before deciding to schedule a do over.  UGH!).

LEADING THE MEETING:

• Be on time!  Enough said.
• Start on time.  This one is hard for me, because I don't like being interrupted by the latecomers, so I tend to wait on them to start.  However, I believe if you start on time, people will know to come to your meetings on time as they won't like walking/dialing into an ongoing meeting.
• Make sure everyone is clear on the goal of the meeting and ask if there are any questions on the agenda (you don't need to read it because you sent it out in advance).  Be prepared and assume your attendees are.  After a few meetings, they will catch on and be ready for you.
• Be a good facilitator.  Make sure everyone you invited has a voice (you invited them on purpose).  Try to do more listening than talking.
• Be prepared to handle hearing nothing but the crickets.  If nobody is speaking up, or it is obvious people are multitasking, have some strategies to reign them in.  Calling them by name and asking a question may seem third grade teacher-ish, but it gets people's attention.
• Leave a few minutes at the end to do the following: ask for final thoughts, provide a quick (brevity is a virtue) recap of the key outcomes and next steps with owners.

AFTER THE MEETING:

• No longer than 1 day after the meeting (I like to do this within the hour while it is still fresh, but that is not always feasible), send a recap email to the participants.  This should include who attended, who was absent, key outcomes of the meeting and next steps with owners.
• Schedule your follow up call, only if needed.

Following these simple hints will lead you to fewer meetings (you won't have all those reschedules), better participation in the meetings you have, and people who learn to love you for respecting their time!