This article will give you 15 tips to prevent your meetings from getting derailed and make them more effective.
Meetings are great for getting people together around a topic, making decisions and getting results. However, the greatest disappointment is having a meeting that doesn’t accomplish much and leaves you feeling like you wasted your time. Let’s avoid that. This article will show you exactly how.
Why meetings get derailed
One of the biggest reasons meetings get derailed is because of lack of planning. Meetings can also be derailed by facilitator or presenter performance as well as off topic conversations. Of course, there are many other reasons as well. Regardless of why, no one likes a purposeless meeting that accomplishes nothing. So here are the tips to make your meetings more effective and useful.
Tips to prevent your meetings from getting derailed
1. Identify key persons who need to attend
Its important to ensure the key players are at your meeting. If you hold a meeting and the main decision makers aren’t there, then of course your meeting will be derailed because the decisions can’t be made. Identify the key stakeholders and make sure they are invited.
2. Find the right location
Based on the type of meeting and the audience, you need to make sure the location is right. It might be ok to meet at a coffee shop, restaurant or park based on the situation, whereas for some other situations, you need an office space or conference room. Be sure you understand the audience and the type of meeting to pick the right location.
3. Pick the right time
It’s important to pick the right time for the meeting to also prevent the meeting from getting derailed. Company culture and type of work is very important in the timing of the meeting. Also be aware of related issues that can affect the time you pick.
For example, when I worked in Jamaica while the Olympic games was happening, meetings that were scheduled while Usain Bolt was running would mysteriously be empty. Also you traditionally do not set a meeting around lunch time because all the participants are thinking of is going to lunch, so you are not getting their full attention if you pick that time.
4. Make a clear agenda
The very best way to get your meeting derailed is to not have a clear agenda. You absolutely need to be clear about what the discussion points are for the meeting and have that planned out. Make a bullet point list of what the objectives of the meeting are ahead of time.
5. Make expected results known
This follows on the previous point about having an agenda. Once you have the agenda, then you need to make the expected meeting results known to the participants so that they can also prepare for the discussion. This will go a long way in making sure that the meeting is useful and also helps to let people know when they are getting off topic. Be very careful not to make expectations too high or the agenda too long so that the results can be accomplished in the time assigned.
6. Anticipate the right duration
Based on the agenda you need to make a good estimate of how long the meeting should last. This also follows the agenda and is why it is very important to make sure the agenda is realistic. The right duration will go a long way in preventing your meeting from being derailed because people will know if they can dedicate the time you are asking for the meeting upfront.
You don’t want the meeting to be too long or too short. Usually meetings are 30 minutes, an hour or 1 hour and 30 minutes depending on the content. If you go over the 1:30 minutes, you will start to loose people. Try to make you meeting as short as possible while still covering the agenda.
7. Anticipate technology needs
Sometimes technology can work against you. That’s why to prevent your meeting from getting derailed by technology, you have to anticipate what you will need and set it up in advance.
If you need connection make sure you have wifi and the password or a hotspot backup ready. If you need to project, make sure the resolution of the projector and your presentation is right. If you need to do a conference call, make sure the phone is there and do a test call. If you need video, make sure you get that set up and tested.
Believe me, nothing is more frustrating than to have everyone in a room waiting for the meeting and be having technical difficulties. Its not always avoidable, because things happen, but the more you prepare for it, the less likely it is to derail your meeting.
8. Use introductions
This is a key to having a good meeting. Starting off right. Make sure you introduce the people who will participate in the meeting and the reason for the meeting. Don’t assume everyone is familiar with the topic or each other. If it’s a team that work together then you can skip the introductions but at least always introduce the topic. Don’t just start with the issues. Introduce it. Introductions are powerful to set the stage. Especially when you have remote participants.
I remember being in a large meeting with some people joining by phone and video conference. The presenter was the president of the company so he assumed everyone knew who he was but the truth was most of the people in the meeting had never seen or spoken to him before. So as he was presenting, at some point someone on the phone said: “Excuse me, who is this?”. That was a little uncomfortable. In my head I was saying “oh he’s just your boss’ boss’ boss!
Point is, always introduce yourself and the participants if you are among new people and always introduce the topic.
9. If you use slides, make them good
Do you want to make your meeting really boring really fast? then have a presentations with really terrible slides.
So slides that are very wordy with small text fonts or with really ugly design will quickly derail the meeting as people aren’t focusing on what you are presenting, but rather trying hard to figure out your slides or looking away because its so hard to look at.
If you do use slides in your meeting, make them engaging, readable, relevant and at a digestible level of detail.
10. Make sure software/ tools are functioning
Make sure that if you need to use special software or tools, that they function.
I was once in a meeting where they needed to demo something and when the presenter tried to log in, his password didn’t work and so we spent a lot of time trying to get him to connect because the presentation relied on him having access. This is similar to point 7 on anticipating technology needs, however this point is for any tools that will be used in the presentation.
If you need to write on the white board make sure you have enough markers and that they work. If you need sticky notes, make sure you have enough in the different colors, if that is important etc…
11. Stay on topic
The most important thing to having an effective meeting and preventing it from getting derailed is to stay on topic.
If you have already created your agenda and sent it out, then its easier for all the people in the meeting to stick to the topic. If you side track and go off, then the agenda should help you refocus. Remember the purpose of the meeting and that will help you prevent the meeting from getting derailed as well.
12. Respectfully redirect off topic discussions ( shut people down!)
There is a skill involved in identifying off topic discussions that stray from the agenda and being able to respectfully refocus people on what’s important.
It’s not always easy to do, but the trick is to let people feel they have the freedom to make a contribution, and then respectfully shut them down when they stray. The trick to doing this is to let them speak for a short time and look for any pause to interject and redirect them back to the topic. Sometimes you can simply say that the off topic is not what the meeting will focus on today and promise to revisit the issue at a later time. That should keep them satisfied enough and give you a chance to move the meeting back in the right direction.
13. Add breaks
Adding breaks can really help keep people’s attention, especially in long meetings. A break can be anything from a change in the topic to something lighter, to a funny picture or joke, to a pause in the meeting, to having refreshments, bathroom breaks etc… Breaks should be short and its best when it doesn’t involve leaving the location.
14. Offer food
Nothing gets people to a meeting faster and keeps them sitting through all of it than the promise of free food. Once you offer food, a lot of people who have been invited are likely to show up. It’s a great motivator.
Be careful not to let the food derail the meeting though. Make sure the meal is available only at the end of the meeting and ensure participants can’t see or smell it during the meeting either! If you don’t have the budget for a meal for all the participants, then you can try for offering water or drinks instead. Water or drinks can be had during the meeting and that should not be too distracting.
15. Dress appropriately
One thing that can seriously derail your meeting is the presenter’s attire. If the presenter wears anything inappropriate then that can be a big yet subtle distraction as people will be fixating on the presenter’s clothes instead of paying attention to the content. So make sure to dress appropriately.
So these are the 15 tips I think will help you have effective meetings and hopefully help to prevent them from getting derailed. Put them into practice the next time you schedule a meeting and let me know which tip you used in the comments.
You can also check out this article with additional tips of effective meetings. If you are a business analyst or work in the corporate world at all, then check out these soft skills that you can use in your job today.
Are you looking to start a business analysis career? Check out this article on How to Break Into Business Analysis with No Experience for great first steps to get into the field!