Effectively Hosting a Meeting

Even for a seasoned professional, hosting a meeting can be a daunting task. Leading a meeting effectively is an important skill in the corporate world. A boring PowerPoint deck is enough to send everyone to sleep or to seek solace in tea breaks and lunch. Most meetings fail due to poor preparation, bad management and limited participation. Every meeting should bring you closer to your desired results. So, for achieving the goal, you need to do things differently. Here are some awesome tips to effectively host a meeting-
Set the objective
Starting at the middle and reaching to a result – it is not possible. Firstly, you need to determine the objective of the meeting. Is it really necessary or an email will solve the purpose? Don’t plan a meeting just for the sake of meeting. What would be the nature of the meeting? Defining the purpose will also help set the tone for the meeting and deciding the benchmarks for success. Share the meeting’s goals beforehand in order to allow participants to come prepared with ideas, suggestions and discussion points.
Respect the time frame
It is advisable to set a specific start and finish time. If the colleagues will know the duration of the meeting in advance, they can schedule rest of their day accordingly. If the meeting will respect the stipulated time frame, you will gain the reputation of being considerate towards your coworkers’ schedules. Sometimes it may happen that the meeting runs long, inform politely the set ending time and release those who have other commitments.
Stay on track
Even the best planned meetings can be derailed due to numerous reasons. As a host, it is your prime responsibility to keep everyone focused. Be adhere to the set agenda and take every possible effort to stick on the planned path. Be equipped with some transitional phrases to redirect the participants such as we can explore further this aspect at another time, but for now let’s focus on finding ways to solve the customer grievances.
It’s all about location
Chose a space which is large enough to accommodate all the members. There is nothing worse than being awkwardly stuffed around a table meant for 5 when 8 people have turned up. Figure out what props you might need and are all in working condition? Test the technology in the room by arriving early on the day or doing a test-run beforehand.
Keep the things going
Conversations and ideas are dying out? Re-energize the team with some proactive ideas. Open-ended questions can be the best ways to keep up the flow. Stay flexible and be open to possibilities.
Assign someone for note-taking
Instead of simultaneously taking notes while hosting a meeting, designate a note-taker who will be responsible for jotting down important details of the meeting on their laptop with the approval of the speaker.
Follow up
Before you call it a day, give a brief recap of what needs to happen next. Clearly outline the action plans and respective responsibilities of everyone in order to make the meeting successful.