Meeting etiquette
SMART guides: Meetings

Meeting etiquette is really important if you want a meeting to go smoothly and avoid wasting time.  It's one of my favourite time management improvement areas.  You can achieve a lot of saving and improvement with very little work.

Purpose

Meetings are called all the time both informally and formally.  Their purpose varies from simply agreeing some tasks for an employee to undertake to the full formal board meeting of the company.  If you're to undertake a successful meeting the first place to start is to understand it's purpose.

Although the same meeting etiquette applies equally to a formal and informal meetings the strictness you apply can vary.  There are legal requirements for a formal board meeting whereas a quick brainstorming meeting doesn't have those needs.

Before you hold your meeting think a little about why your holding it and at that point decide how strictly you want to run the meeting.  It'll differ all the time so think of it as a scale of strictness that you need to decide how to apply.

How to Set Up a Meeting

It's easy to set up a meeting.  Get a few people, find a room and discuss stuff.

Whilst this will work for some informal meetings it won't produce the results you are looking for.  You'll find that the meeting rambles and that people aren't sure what was agreed.  Actions you thought would be taken, people deny ever agreeing to and you end up having another meeting to figure out what was agreed at the first meeting.

I've been to many, many meetings where the sole purpose is to retake a meeting that was already held.  If only the chair had added a bit of meeting etiquette they'd have had a much better and more productive experience.

So with all this in mind first things first.  Figure out why the meeting is being held.

What is the Purpose

Once you have that purpose the rest should follow easily:

• Put together an Agenda
• Invite those you think should come and ask them if anyone else needs to come
• Book the room for the meeting and any equipment
• Prepare any documents you need and ask others to do the same

You're now ready for the meeting.

Agenda

The agenda is often not used effectively in a meeting.  People are guilty of chucking a few items on a page with a heading and then ignoring it at the meeting.  Don't work that way.

You should have an agenda that adds value and is used, or not have one at all.  Instead you can hold the follow up meeting  I talked of earlier - you know the ones held to decide what was decided at the last meeting.

An agenda should have a series of bullet points on it.  These should have either brief explanatory notes or supporting documentation available.  Against each point should be an amount of time.

If you are the chair of the meeting then your role is to start at the beginning and work your way to the end according to the times set.  People are busy so they'll appreciate their time being valued by you.  If an item is overrunning badly.  Stop.  Put it to the side and have a follow up meeting on it.

I've added a free sample agenda form that you can download to help with your meeting etiquette.  It's a zip file with a word document inside.  You can easily customize it for your specific needs.

Meeting Itself

Meeting etiquette starts with the chair checking if anyone has anything to add to the agenda.  Now in theory people should have mailed you before the meeting but in practise they'll often turn up with their ideas.  Make sure you allow a bit of time at the start of the meeting to formally agree the agenda.

Even in an informal meeting that is held on the spur of the moment you should create an agenda.  Draw up a simple list, agree the times and then hold the meeting.

As the meeting progresses if you are the chair keep people on track.  If people are getting upset or loud gently bring the meeting back to calm.  Your job is part referee and part contributor.

If you are not the chair.  Listen to what's being said and try to contribute appropriately.  Don't interrupt or be abusive.  Try to stay positive and forward moving.

I know some of this might seem obvious but next time you sit in a meeting watch those around you and see how they are acting.

Notes and Actions

A necessity of getting meeting etiquette correct is publishing notes or formal minutes of the meeting.  Often this doesn't happen and there is usually a groan when note taking is suggested.  It is however a very important part of the process.  Quality note taking helps people not only at the meeting but also those not at the meeting to figure out what's going on and who is doing what as a result.

As part of the note taking you should make sure that when someone agrees an action in the meeting it is repeated back to them with a proposed timescale for completion.  This makes them accountable at any subsequent meetings.

A couple of final thoughts on meetings:

Dress smartly.  Even if it is dress down Friday you'll find people appreciate the effort you've made

Arrive on time.  Arriving on time shows you value other time.

Don't bicker.  If you disagree be polite.

Make sure, if you are the chair, you thank those attending.

If you follow these simple rules then you'll have no problems with your meeting etiquette and your meetings will run smoothly.