Despite the daily onslaughts of e-mails, phone calls, and memos, meetings are still one of the most effective ways that people share and exchange information, get feedback, plan, collaborate and make important decisions for their organizations.

1. How to run effective
meetings
Jyoti Gupta
Project Manager
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jygupta/

3. Reasons why meetings fail
● No agenda = no purpose
● No advance communication = surprising behaviors/responses
● Not encouraging participation = no interaction
● No time management = cost to the organization – time is money
● Allowing conflict to get out of control = chaos
● Not reaching consensus = waste of time and company resources
● Allowing sub meetings = no focus or direction
● Not controlling difficult behavior = everyone becoming difficult
● Not summarising actions = misunderstanding of next steps
● Not motivational = attendees leave feeling flat and despondent

4. Agenda
Module 1 - Why we have meetings?
Module 2 - Planning and preparation
Module 3 - Running the meeting

5. Module 1 - Why have meetings?
● What are meetings?
● The purpose of meetings
● Types of meetings
● Benefits of meetings

6. Gathering of people to
present or exchange
information, plan joint
activities, make decisions, or
carry out actions already
agreed upon
What are meetings?

7. The Purpose of Meetings
Purpose
Pooling and
Developing Ideas
Solving Problems
Create and
Develop
Understanding
Planning
Making Decisions
Providing a Sense
of Direction

8. Types of Meetings
● Status Update Meetings
● Information Sharing Meetings
● Decision Making Meetings
● Problem Solving Meetings
● Innovation Meetings
● Team Building Meetings

9. The Benefits of Meetings

10. Module 2 - Planning
and preparation

11. Things to consider before calling
a meeting -
Who to invite?
- Who has the information
- Who has approval authority?
- Who has the expertise?
- Who will observe and take
minutes?
- Who will follow up on action
items?
Where to Hold Your
Meeting?
- Book a Conference room
- Equipments required

12. Context of the meeting?
- Background of the meeting?
- What the meeting is about?
- Why it is being held?
Objective of the meeting?
- Helps meeting to be effective
- Helps with time management
- Helps keep the meeting on track
Example - Scrum Standup
Context -
● This is quick meeting to go around each team member to see what they are working on and if they
are encountering any problems.
● This is to make everyone’s work visible to the team.
Objective -
● Describe what you did yesterday
● Describe what you intend to do today
● Are you Blocked?
● Any other business?

13. Write Agenda
- Are there items to discuss early?
- Is there a logical order?
- Is there an item relevant to
everyone?
- Will any items overshadow
others?
Inform Attendees about
Agenda
- What will be discussed at the
meeting?
- What should they bring?
- What types of discussion are
expected?
- How long the meeting is to last?

14. Meeting Timing
Time is very important factor, different times of
the day has pros and cons.
9.00 am
Pros -
● Get important meetings done
early
● People are fresh for the day
● You can plan the rest of the day
Cons -
● People being late
● People have different start times
Before Lunch
Pros -
● Have lunch to look forward to
● People can recollect after lunch
● Gives people time to work on actions
in the afternoon.
Cons -
● People can be hungry before lunch

15. Late Afternoon 3.30+
Pros -
● Get important tasks done before the
meeting
● Allows you the day to review what has
happened
Cons -
● People are more tired by this point in the
day
● More likely to be cancelled
● People may have to leave early

16. Deciding Meeting Roles
Chairperson
- Planning and coordinating
- Managing the meeting
- Facilitating the meeting
- Contribute to ideas and strategies
Minute Taker
- Using agreed minute template
- Invite agenda item submission
- Write up the Agenda
- Record key points in the meeting
- Write up the minutes
- Disseminate minutes via email
TimeKeeper
- Monitor meeting time frames
- Inform when only 5 minutes left in each
item
Meeting Participant
- Contribute items to the meeting agenda
- Contribute during meetings
- Undertake assigned special project
tasks
- Read the meeting minutes

17. Visual Aids
Increased Control, Greater Understanding, Better
retention

18. Do’s -
- Stand to the side of the flipchart
- Turn and talk to the rest of the meeting
- Prepare flipcharts in advance
- Use bold marker pens and colors
- Use bullet points and short statements
- Put flipcharts onto walls as a visual aid
Don'ts -
- Talk to the flipchart
- Obstruct the view of the flipchart
- Hide behind the flipchart
- Cram in too much information
- Use small and unclear text
- Rush so they look scruffy
1. Flipchart

19. Do’s -
- Turn off some or all of the room lights
- Project onto a clean wall or screen
- Setup before the meeting
- Use company Branding
- Know your slides
- Talk to the audience not the projector
Don'ts -
- Projector onto a cluttered wall
- Talk to the projector
- Stand in front of the projector
- Leave the projector on
- Use full paragraphs of text
2. Projector

20. Do’s -
- Prepare handouts in advance
- Ensure handouts are relevant
- Make handouts very visual
- Allow time for the group to review
- Explain content of each handout
- Keep handouts to a minimum
Don'ts -
- Organize handouts after meeting has
started
- Get out unnecessary handouts
- Give them out whilst still talking
3. Handouts

21. Module 3 - Running
the meeting

22. Steps to run the meeting:
1. How to get started?
2. Setting ground rules
3. Meeting facilitation
4. Questioning skills and techniques
5. Listening skills
6. Dealing with different behaviors
7. Minute taking guide

23. 1. How to get started?
● Quick Introduction
● Tell Everyone what
meeting is about?
● Encourage positivity
● Share a surprising
statistics quote
● Tell a story/Example

24. 2. Setting meeting ground Rule
● Share the airtime
● Listen to understand
● One speaker at a time
● Disagree without being a disagreeable
● Critique ideas, not people
● Speak honestly
● Stay open to new ways of doing things
● Show up and CHOOSE to be present and participate
● HAVE FUN!

25. 3. Facilitation
Facilitation in business,
organizational development (OD),
and in consensus decision-making
refers to the process of designing
and running a successful meeting.
Facilitation concerns itself with all
the tasks needed to run a productive
and impartial meeting.

26. What does facilitator do?
Design and Plan
Guide , run and
control

27. Guide and Control the Event -
- Set the ground rules
- Set the scene
- Get things flowing
- Keep up the momentum and energy
- Listen, engage and include
- Monitor checkpoints and summarize
- Watch for and close any side conversation
- Keep a close eye on the time
- Learn what to do with long running discussions
- Look for people not participating
- Pay attention to group behavior
- Mediate if there are personal attacks

28. ● Keep in mind the outcome
● Consult on the shape of meeting
● Rehearse how you will intervene
Facilitation Tips

29. 4. Questioning skills
and techniques

30. Questioning Techniques When to use?
Open Questions - Developing an open conversation
- Finding out more detail
- Finding another person’s opinions and views
Closed Questions - Testing your understanding
- Concluding or making a decision
- Frame setting
Funneling Questions - Finding out more detail
- Gaining interest and increasing confidence
Probing Questions - They are good for gaining clarification
- Drawing information out of people
Leading Questions - Getting the answer you want
- Closing a sale
Rhetorical Questions - Getting the answer you want

31. 5. Listening Skills

32. Guidelines to Becoming a Better Listener
- Face the speaker
- Keep an open mind
- Listen to Ideas NOT words
- Don’t interrupt
- Wait for a pause
- Ask questions
- Be attentive
- Feel the speakers feeling
- Give feedback
- Pay Attention to what is NOT said

33. Barriers to Listening
Information
Overload
Unchecked
Emotions
Background
Noise
Boredom
Rate of
information

34. How to Improve Listening?
● Anticipate the speaker’s next
point
● Identify Supporting Elements
● Make Mental Summaries

35. 6. Dealing with
different behaviors

36. Types Reason How to Deal?
The Reserved
(Shy, timid, insecure, very reserved)
- Naturally timid
- Bored
- Feeling superior
- Distracted
- Not Understanding
- Use direct questions
- Use encouragement
- Ask for their opinion
- Use direct eye contact
The Over Talker
(Talks way too much, rambles on,
very dominant)
- Natural need for attention
- Flaunt a large vocabulary
- Desire for authority
- Use direct questions
- Thanking them for their
comment and move on
- Take conversation offline
The Side Conversationalist
(Disrupts meeting by going off
topics)
- Introducing non agenda items
- Bored
- Not being heard
- Wants attention
- Use non verbal
communication
- Ask a question
- Verbally intervene
- Establish a group signal
The Overly Disagreeable
(Highly argumentative, generally
antagonistic)
- Combative personality
- Upset by others opinions
- Natural showoffs
- Feel they are being ignored
- Unable to make suggestions
- Asking the group what they
think
- Directly ask them what
they would do

37. 7.

38. What to include in Minutes of Meeting?
● Date and time of the meeting
● The purpose of the meeting
● Who has attended the meeting
● Who absent from the meeting
● The meeting lead or chair’s name
● Assigned action items
● Decisions made

39. Conclusion -
We learned how to effectively plan,
prepare and run a meeting. Also how
to deal with different personalities.
Thank You