How to have an effective business meeting
Here is the best way to have an effective business meeting.
1) Work out the items you wish to discuss at the meeting.
2) Email the list to everyone who you are thinking of inviting to the meeting and ask them if there is anything else they wish to add to it. Wait for 24 hours for any responses.
3) Email everybody you are thinking of inviting to the meeting with your thoughts on each of the points you wanted to discuss. Ask them to comment.
4) Do some real work.
5) Do some more real work.
6) Do something other than work – enjoy yourself.
7) Read the responses from all the people who are due to be attending your meeting, select any you like the look of and reject any you don’t.
8) Email out your thoughts on each of the comments and, if you are the boss, indicate what you plan to do. If you are not the boss, ask everyone for their thoughts, tell them which way you are minded to go with each of the thoughts and ask them to comment on this before going ahead with your plans.
9) Be very pleased with yourself that you have just saved possibly 2 or 3 hours of your valuable time and life.
The only good business meeting is one that doesn’t happen. At least 90% of business meetings are unnecessary and usually a total waste of time. If you are planning a business meeting for the social side of it then by all means go ahead but if you are planning a business meeting to get things done then it is usually easier and faster to deal with everything by email and get decisions made.
Finally, if you have to have a business meeting, don’t let anybody sit down. The moment anyone sits down is the moment you are about to waste precious minutes of your life.