7 Tips for a Successful Business Meeting

Not everyone will want to speak up during the meeting, but it’s still polite to ask. It makes everyone feel included in the discussion, instead of feeling like they are merely being talked to and expected to only listen.

Graphs, charts, slide shows, and cue cards are all excellent props to have for people who learn better by absorbing information visually. As for the verbal learners, provide plenty of talk-time for them to take in the information.

If everyone doesn’t get to voice his/her opinion, then those particular people might feel that the meeting wasn’t a successful one. However, if you supply a location for these individuals to post their unanswered questions, then they just might feel like they were included in the meeting. Give everyone a post-it note or two and have them write down questions that weren’t addressed during the meeting. These sticky notes can then be attached to a larger piece of paper on the wall where you will be able to collect them later. Be sure you follow through with the answers to these questions.

Examples of a couple of rules that should be put into place right away include being on time for the meeting and taking turns talking. Most people will naturally show up on time and mind their manners when others are talking. However, you might need to create rules that are geared towards how the meetings will be conducted. Also, when specific roles are doled out, this takes a lot of the responsibility off of your shoulders and you can focus more on conducting the meeting. Designate someone to be a time keeper and another to take notes about the meeting, which can later be shared with all those who attend and put on file for you.

There’s nothing wrong with having a meeting just to check in with everyone. But, if that is the sole purpose of the meeting, then make sure you check in with each individual at the meeting. If there is a specific goal that needs to be met, make sure this goal is made known to the entire group and work towards meeting it.

If one employee thinks the meeting is about installing a snack machine in the staff break room, but another thinks the meeting is for fine tuning a particular business proposal, there might be problems. Each person is going to be heading to the meeting in a different frame of mind and one of them is going to be thoroughly confused for the first few minutes or so. State the purpose of the meeting in the memo to staff members and again at the start of the meeting itself.

When you know what your notes already say, you will be able to spend more time making eye contact with employees. You’ll be able to make sure each person is paying attention and no one has a blank look on his/her face. By checking your notes before the meeting, you will have time to make any necessary changes instead of fumbling in the middle of the meeting.

Out of the 7 tips for a successful business meeting, which one do you think will help you the most?

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