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How to Hold A Successful Meeting
The primary and most important point in holding a successful meeting is to make sure you have an issue that needs discussing. Most meetings fail or feel pointless because there's not an obvious set programme.
Set a clear agenda with a defined mission for the meeting. Print this agenda as a handout you can give to the other members of the meeting. It helps the overall clarity of what's being discussed if everyone has an itinerary to refer to and make notes on. A mission for the meeting is integral so ensure there is a problem that needs solving or a decision that must be made, otherwise you may be wasting your time, as well as everyone else's. Follow the crucial rule - if there's no issue for the meeting then cancel it!
Have a time limit with extra time allocated for questions and answers, but stick to this limit. More often than not meetings run over time, this isn't so bad if productive discussions are taking place and issues are being solved, however it does become a problem when the meeting is eating into people's work time severely. So set a realistic time limit, which means you can't ramble off on tangents but you can have a quick Q and A once the actual agenda has been dealt with. Be strict with yourself and other members of the meeting and stick to the time you have assigned.
Use PowerPoint with poise and purpose, not just to boringly repeat what is evident from the slides. PowerPoint has got a bad reputation in the past because it has been used so unimaginatively in presentations. Utilise the slides as a small prompt to make a larger point, rather than simply reading paragraphs of text from the slide, which bores most participants and loses their concentration on what might be an integral point.
Make sure the appropriate people are involved; someone of authority should lead proceedings, as well as the right spectators and suitable participants so any one who's relevant to the content discussed is present and correct. But don't invite people for the sake of it, if members of the team aren't going to benefit from attending the meeting there is no need to bring them along. The participants who do want to contribute must have something of value to say.
Good communication. If you are the facilitator of the meeting, make sure you communicate lucidly on the issues and points under discussion. Also, you must direct the conversation; move it on when it's needed. For example if someone's rambling, politely but swiftly move onto the next topic. If you know a member has an important contribution to make but are typically shy then give them a push in the right direction, invite their voice to be heard, and give them time to speak.
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