How to have a more successful business meeting

Business meetings can be important and sometimes necessary to help promote your team and/or bring awareness to various factors of the company. However, it’s also a well-known fact that these meetings can often be tedious and hard for employees to enjoy.

Regardless of what your agenda is for having the meeting, you ultimately want your team to learn something and be better at their jobs. Therefore, it will be important to grasp their attention and educate them in a way that is memorable.

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Originally reported by our sister brand Business Review Canada, we’ve put together three tips that can help your next business meeting become more successful. And while you may not be able to utilize all of these ideas for every single meeting, you should try incorporating them when you can.

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Do you have a goal?

No one likes having their time wasted — period. Therefore, if you’re going to have any type of business meeting, make sure there is a purpose for the meeting.

Before you even schedule the meeting, you should have a clear, drawn out agenda of what you want to achieve during the gathering. Remember: Your employees are busy. Taking time out of the work day to have a meeting ultimately means your employees will be pulled away from their daily tasks.

Therefore, if you want to have a meeting, then have a purpose for the meeting and only invite those that the information pertains to — you’re most likely trying to get more out of your employees, not distract them.  

Do you have a location?

Sure, it’s not realistic or feasible for every meeting to be held outside of a boardroom or conference room. However, when you get a chance to do so, don’t be afraid to change up the location of the gathering.

You don’t even need to spend money renting out a room or hall — get creative! Simply taking the business meeting outside on a sunny day can be quite effective and give your tired and overworked employees a chance to step away from their desks and get out of the office for a little bit.

If changing the location of the meeting isn’t possible, then try to provide perks or treats to those who have to attend the meeting. Coffee, breakfast bagels or sandwiches are all great ways to not only show your appreciation, but also motivate your team.

Do you have a positive outlook?

If you’re the one planning and setting up the business meeting, then it’s also your responsibility to set the overall tone of the meeting. And if you want the gathering to go well, then it will be very important to creative a positive vibe.

Even if your agenda is too critique the team’s performance, you should do so in a constructive manner. Offer ways and ideas on how employees can better themselves and their work — don’t focus on the negative.

Furthermore, you should promote feedback. During the meeting, each employee (if he or she wishes to do so) should be given the opportunity to speak and discuss his or her opinion. Creating a dialogue is important. After all, at the end of the day, you’re all a team.

As mentioned earlier, these are just a few different ways in which your business meetings can become more successful and productive. You may already have some methods of your own that have proven to work for you and your team. If so, share with us!

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