From the course: Time Management Tips

Make the most of meetings

From the course: Time Management Tips

Start my 1-month free trial

Make the most of meetings

“

- What do you think of when I say the word "meetings?" Most people don't have a very positive emotional reaction to that phrase and with good reason, meetings are often wasted time. Now I do teach a full course on leading productive meetings but in this video I want to share with you a few tips from the standpoint of an attendee. How can you get the most out of the meetings that you attend? First, I recommend that you listen, focus fully on other people while they're speaking. Do not multitask. It's a temptation to try to do other things but you want to demonstrate respect for other people so that they'll demonstrate respect for you. Also it helps you avoid having to retrace your steps in case someone asks you a question and you weren't paying attention. Number two, I recommend that you focus on taking action, not notes. Now many people write down copious notes during a meeting and they feel like they're going to review all of those notes later. It's far more effective to focus on the actions that you'll need to take as a result of the meeting. So you can write down one action and then next to it put a big check box that draws attention to the fact that you're going to need to do something about what you heard or participated in. Number three is verify the end time of the meeting in advance. This is helpful not just for you but for everyone else in setting the expectation of when the meeting will be over. It's also helpful if you have an appointment or something else you need to work on after the meeting. You may find using a phrase like this to be helpful, "I have a hard stop at 3 o’clock." That gives everyone advance warning that regardless of where we are in the meeting you will need to leave at that time. Number four is related to number three in that you want to encourage shorter meetings, so rather than having a 60 minute meeting, have a 50 minute meeting, or instead of a 30 minute meeting, a 25 minute meeting. That little extra space has many benefits, it gives you a buffer between whatever else it is you need to do next and it gives everyone the encouragement to be concise with their comments. And finally number five is to review and process your notes. So at the end of the meeting you've been taking all of those actions, we want to follow through on those actions and do something about them. If you need help on how to process those to make sure you complete them, I recommend you check out my course on time management fundamentals. Meetings can be effective for your productivity and for time management, it just takes a little bit of investment to make the most of them.

Contents