Smarter, Faster AND Better Meetings

MANY people have been complaining recently about their time management problems specifically around having an inordinate amount of meetings to attend on a daily basis. This leaves them with little or no time to tend to their emails, voice mails or anything else, for that matter. The incredible stress this causes can be greatly reduced.

First off, know that you really DO have control over the number of meetings you attend. If you use a group calendar system like Outlook and your calendar is empty at the time a meeting is called, then you will be scheduled to attend it. However, if you intentionally block out time (translate = show busy) for your email and other projects, then you won’t be going to that meeting! Certainly there are some meetings that you HAVE to go to, but limit your time available by blocking out time for you, first.

Another simple strategy is to just say “NO”! Of course this needs to be used judiciously but remember it always IS an option!

Secondly, do you REALLY have to attend every meeting you are invited to? Of course we all want to feel needed and important but some meetings are just a plain waste of time. Find out from the meeting organizer what the meeting will cover and why you need to be there if you are at all unsure. You might just buy yourself an extra hour by spending 2 minutes checking.

Also, has your organization learned the ways to running efficient meetings? They include things like:

  • Timed out agendas sent ahead of time
  • Clear purpose and objectives
  • Basic meeting ground rules
  • STRICT start and end times
  • A meeting timekeeper to keep on track
  • A meeting minute taker (to share with those NOT in attendance, maybe you??)
  • A meeting facilitator
  • Evaluate meeting for productive or unproductive outcomes
  • Set next steps

If you and your colleagues are meeting’d out, want to make your meetings more efficient or spend less time in meetings, then I hope this gets you thinking about making some changes to reduce your stress. If you’d like assistance with this, we are happy to offer you our newest program called “Streamlining Meetings” facilitated by our very own Karin Joy Whitley. Let us know how we can help!

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Abby Marks Beale is founder of The Corporate Educator, a professional speaking and training company specializing in helping with busy people work smarter, faster and just plain better. Go to www.TheCorporateEducator.com.

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Rev It Up Reading is a subsidiary of The Corporate Educator. Since 1988, we have been teaching faster, more effective reading to busy professionals, educators and students in a wide variety of corporations, associations and schools. We offer speaking services, on-site and online training programs, teleclasses, books and audio recordings about how to manage any reading workload and how to read better and faster. ALL of our training is practical and immediately useful to your life and work.