1. Purpose of Meeting
There are purpose why meetings are held :
- To sort out any conflicts.
- To negotiate a contract or agreement, or matters to do with it.
- To deal with a current problem within the group or within the business or organisation.
- To receive a report for assessment and review.
- To supply information to those present or to canvas views of those present on the particular matter at hand
2. Types of Meeting
A) Report- and Information-oriented
This kind of meeting requires the most advance preparation. Leadership is very important, because these meetings easily become boring and tend to be filled with too much information. If more than one person will be speaking, try to review the other presentations beforehand, to see if they can be pared down. This pre-planning will reflect well on you. Some conferences that overload on information use small discussion groups, which allow people time to digest and sort out information.
B) Decision-making and Problem-solving
These meetings are tricky because all their aspects demand a display of leadership from the chairperson: where people are sitting, who gets the floor, how long the meeting lasts, and so on. You should make succinct summaries of progress during the meeting. Don't let people get off track, and watch the time carefully.
C) Creative and Brainstorming
These meetings tend to be free-flowing and minimize your leadership role. But you can still exercise leadership by establishing the right atmosphere—one in which people feel free to come up with new slogans, ways to save money, and so on.
D) Training and Skill-building
Really prepare for these meetings in advance. You'll need to make them long enough so that people will be able to really get involved. Save time for the practicing that the members of your audience will need to reinforce what they are learning.
3. What makes a great meeting?
What makes a great meeting? The best of them leave us focused and energized because the purpose of the meeting was clear; attendees felt engaged; and the process was smooth. Not-so-great meetings, on the other hand, drain energy, and lower morale.
Here are some tips to make a great meeting:
- Set a Time That Works
Choose a time of day when people are not likely to be tired, hungry, or otherwise distracted.
- Set an Agenda
An agenda helps spell out the items and issues to be discussed and the results that everyone expects. For some groups, reports from officers, approval of minutes from a previous meeting, and reports from subcommittees are routine for general meetings. There may be specific old and new business. In other situations, a meeting may focus on making decisions or recommendations on a series of issues.
- Have Some Discussion
Discussing topics sometimes takes more time than you would like. Although there are ways to keep a discussion moving, it is essential that the person running the meeting preside impartially. Make sure that people who disagree have a chance to state their cases.
- State Your Point of View
If you disagree with a proposal, don't assume that you should be quiet just because no one else has said anything. State your concerns courteously, clearly, and constructively.
- Set up Time to Summarize
Build in time at appropriate points during the meeting and especially at the end of the meeting to very briefly review and summarize what has taken place. If your meeting has dealt with complex or far-ranging topics, this is particularly important.
4. Successful Business Meeting
- Start with the definition. A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.
- A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterized by focus, governed by structure, and controlled by a budget.
- Short meetings free people to work on the essential activities that represent the core of their jobs. In contrast, long meetings prevent people from working on critical tasks such as planning, communicating, and learning.
- Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriate process, and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these to create an effective meeting.
- Effective meetings require sharing control and making commitments.
- Meetings are an investment of resources and time that should earn a profit.
- A meeting can be led from any chair in the room. And if it’s your meeting, you want it to be your chair.
