Five guidelines for getting the most out of your meetings.

Earlier this year, Shopify made news when they purged meetings from employees’ calendars. The move was designed to improve efficiency as well employee morale. It begs the question: what makes a meeting worthwhile? Check out these five guidelines to help make meetings more effective.

Ask yourself if a meeting is really necessary

Will an email, phone call or text accomplish what you need? If a sensitive or complex topic is to be discussed, a meeting may be appropriate. If information sharing is the only goal, consider that a meeting may not be necessary.

Always use an agenda

Many companies have recently instituted rules requiring meeting to have an agenda.

Agendas are valuable for several reasons. First, it can help people decide if they need to be a part of the meeting. Second, it helps people prepare and come to the meeting ready to discuss each agenda item. Third, an agenda helps keep the conversation on track.

For efficient meetings, always include an agenda with your meeting invitations.

Make sure the decision-maker is present

Many meetings fail to produce results because the decision-maker isn’t present. Before accepting a meeting invite, review the list of attendees. If the decision-maker(s) aren’t invited, ask that they be included or consider declining the meeting.

Evaluate recurring meetings

Is your schedule crammed with recurring meetings? Some recurring meetings provide great value, such as team meetings, while others can take up people’s time unnecessarily. When scheduling recurring meetings, ask yourself whether a recurring meeting is necessary, and if so, realistically consider the frequency. Perhaps you only need to meet biweekly or even monthly.

Start and end on time

Starting and ending meetings on time shows respect for everyone’s time. To help ensure prompt start times, when sending digital meeting invites, include alerts 15 minutes before the start time.

Also, consider starting a meeting 5 to 7 minutes after the hour. For folks with back-to-back meetings, a 10:07 start time instead of 10:00 gives them time for a quick break or to grab something to eat or drink.

If there are latecomers to the meeting, don’t recap what they missed. If necessary, however, provide key points if the tardy person’s input is required.

Set the expectation at the beginning of the meeting that you’ll end on time. Refer to the agenda and what you need to cover. Announce when you approach the 5- or 10-minute mark before the meeting’s end. If necessary, schedule up a follow up meeting.

If you absolutely can’t end the meeting on time, some teams employ the “stand up for overtime” rule. This means everyone must stand when the meeting goes past its scheduled end time. The act of standing tends to move things along for making decisions and determining next steps.

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