17 Steps to Leading a Mind-Blowing Meeting
Don't succumb to bad meeting fate.
Once upon a time, I worked for a woman who was known as a star meeting facilitator. CEOs would call left and right, asking her to organize strategy sessions and management off-sites, and she would prepare for these sessions meticulously and down to the last detail. Frequently, as I helped her prep for a meeting, she would remind me in an ominous voice: “Romy, if the room is too hot or too cold, people are going to blame you for it.”
While room temperature is sometimes tough to control, her broader point stands: if you’re going to lead a successful meeting, you have to think constantly about the participants. What’s going to make them feel good about the experience? How can you make sure everyone is engaged and heard? How do you make your participants a part of the meeting process, instead of just an audience? Fortunately, there's a process for that.
Here are some ways you can steer your meetings in a positive (dare we say, exciting?) direction.
1. Have a clear objective
Make sure everyone knows what you’re there to accomplish. If you can come in with a single item you want to achieve and then achieve it, everyone will leave feeling good about the meeting.
2. Have an agenda — and make it obvious
Make sure everyone knows what you're going to cover and in what order. It helps you keep the meeting on track, and gives your attendees a sense of inclusion in the process.
3. Keep it short
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Everyone has lots to do and a short attention span. The more you can keep the meeting brief, the more people will thank you. That means you need to keep the scope of the meeting highly focused.
4. Book a comfortable room
...with chairs at the table for everyone. Seriously. If people feel uncomfortable or are marginalized to “back row seats,” they're not going to be receptive — and what they’ll remember later won't be the great discussion, but how uncomfortable they felt.
5. Choose the right seat
If it’s a meeting that’s around a long table, as the leader, you should sit in the middle, not at the head. That way, you are closer to everyone, sending a message that says, “this is a discussion.”
6. Bring bribes — EHM, snacks
Everyone likes food. Especially not completely unhealthy food.
7. Phones down, heads up
At the start of the meeting, ask everyone if they wouldn’t mind setting aside their phones for the duration of the meeting so everyone can have a better experience.
“Send a message that says, ‘this is a discussion.’”
8. Make sure all key stakeholders can and will attend
Nothing's worse than assembling a group without a key decision-maker so then nothing gets decided. Confirm RSVPs for everyone, and send a meeting reminder the day before.
9. Keep the tone purposeful but light
Inject humor wherever possible. If you can find any way to make the meeting fun, people will thank you. But please: no dad jokes.
10. Keep on track
If someone tries to take the meeting in another direction (and they always do), say, “that’s a great thought. Let’s schedule a separate meeting to discuss it."
11. Make everyone heard
Pay attention to people's reactions to the discussion. Often you'll spot someone trying to speak up but missing their shot. If someone is being drowned out, call attention to them and give them the floor.
12. Elicit participation from everyone
If someone seems quiet or thoughtful, ask them directly for their input. And if someone is not paying attention, call them out on it!
13. Take group notes on a whiteboard
If you jot down people’s thoughts, it gives them weigh t— and it also helps bring participants along to a conclusion or solution with you.
14. Blatantly wrap up
Recap key findings and next steps. Reiterate how the group has successfully accomplished the task at hand. The mental “checking of the check-box” will make everyone feel good.
15. Thank everyone for their time
These days, time is the most precious commodity anyone has. Thank them for making time to join you.
16. End five minutes early
If you can wrap up the meeting five minutes before the scheduled time, people will LOVE you. These days, so many people’s schedules are so booked, they will be forever grateful if you give them five extra minutes to catch up on email or — God forbid — take a bathroom break.
17. Send a meeting recap, notes, and follow-up
THAT DAY or the next day at the very latest. Make sure it is clear who is responsible for what follow up and by when. And if you need a follow up meeting, send the invite for it immediately too. It gives people a sense that the project is progressing.
Ultimately, it’s all about anticipation. If you can think through the purpose and the flow of the meeting in advance, and map out the participants’ experience, you are sure to have meeting that is no less than mind-blowing. And if all else fails, for God’s sake, check the thermostat!
An original version of this article appeared on Career Contessa.
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How To Reclaim Your Time & Your Meetings
Hello timesaver. Hello future.
If you were super-duper, pep-talk in the mirror honest with yourself, how would you answer this question: Where are your eyes during a meeting? Are they on your phone? Scrolling through emails?
Liking photos on Instagram…
We’ve all been there, to the point where we at C&C have a company-wide policy that at all-hands meetings, it’s all hands off phones. That’s right. They stay in our pockets or at our desks. Because ACTIVE listening is how we truly get into action.
And while you might be thinking, hold up, wait a multi-tasking minute. That’s how I stay productive. Studies show that you’re not actually getting as much done as you think while “multitasking.” The truth is, our brains can’t handle jumping from task to task.
Just. Not. Possible.
However, thanks to Bamboo, we've found a solution to the meeting madness. They introduced us to the idea of Mindful Meetings and their new smartpad is unplugged digital note taking at its finest! All you need is the Bamboo Folio and the accompanying pen, and it does the rest-- tracking your notes, sending them to your device-- it will even auto-type your handwritten notes with its Inkspace app. It’s been a HUGE timesaver for us. It also helps us focus on the meeting at hand. And the less you’re distracted in meetings, the less meetings you have to have! Who isn’t keen on that? (Your boss will love it, for one.)
And speaking of bosses, we asked 3 successful CEOs their best advice for having more mindful meetings in the office. This is what they said.
WEEKLY TEAM MEETINGS
"Something Social values weekly meetings to their core. We meet weekly to discuss major team goals, updates on clients, new initiatives, and more. While it may seem really easy to do all of this while also being on your laptop and phone, we make sure we don’t waste this time by fully focusing on the conversation. We leave our laptops and phones at our desks. Oftentimes, we’ll also take a few moments to discuss personal goals as well as professional, which helps us tie our work to our personal growth. Ironically, one of the things that most helps us stay mindful at the office is a piece of technology – the Bamboo Folio. The Folio lets us write meeting notes and ideas with a pen on any paper and then save the work as a digital file with the touch of a button."
Cali Cholodenko, Founder/CEO of Something Social
Read more on Something Social’s mindful office practices here.
TIME BLOCK YOUR SCHEDULE
"If you’ve been around these parts for a while, then you know time blocking is a method that I absolutely swear by! I give each hour of my workday a specific task and I focus solely on that task during that allotted timeframe. This keeps me from spending hours in my inbox or getting caught up on one client project that eats away my entire afternoon. Plus, having a consistent schedule for my workday allows me to plan accordingly and know what’s next. Rather than floating from task to task, I know that I’ll spend 30 minutes answering emails, one hour working on client design projects, 15 minutes brainstorming future content ideas, etc. If you haven’t tried time blocking before, I highly recommend it!"
Bonni, Founder/CEO of B is For Bonnie Design
Read Bonnie’s Time Management Tips + Tools For Running A Business here.
STAND UP!
"When your body is active, so is your mind! Have a standing, no-tech meeting. You’ll be surprised how fast people will try to get things done in that meeting. You could also invest in a standing desk. We use them for when we are really ready to bust out tasks. Plus, it’s easier to do a victory dance when you’re already standing."
Promise Tangman, Founder of Go Live HQ
Read more on how the Go Live HQ Team tackles their to-do lists.
Want to learn more about how you can apply mindfulness to your office culture? Read more about Bamboo’s Mindful Meetings movement + see what their Smartpads have to offer. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.