Whether you're a meeting leader or participant, learn best practices for preparing for a meeting, facilitating and engaging in the conversation, capturing the conversation in meeting notes, and managing the meeting follow-through. This presentation was originally run as a workshop at the 2016 Weapons of Mass Creation event.

1. Effective Meetings
Mamie Kanfer Stewart

2. Mamie Kanfer Stewart
Founder & CEO of Meeteor
We’re about productive
meetings.
• Web and mobile apps
• Workshops, webinars, etc
• Blog on best practices
Hello!

3. 1
3
Of all meetings
are
unproductive!
Meetings are Everywhere

4. • The meeting lifecycle
• Meeting preparation
• Meeting participation
• Meeting follow-through
• Next stepsToday’s
Agenda

5. The Unfortunate Truth

6. Before
DuringAfter
• Manage your tasks
• Plan meeting agenda
• Prepare for meeting
conversation
• Facilitate the conversation
• Contribute to the conversation
• Capture the meeting outcomes
• Share meeting outcomes
• Refer to meeting outcomes
The Meeting Lifecycle

7. MEETING PREPARATION

8. • How meeting
preparation can lead to
better meeting results.
• The key components of
effective meeting
preparation.
What
You Will
Learn

9. • Decide if you really need
a meeting.
• Ensure the right people
are there.
• Determine if you need to
be at the meeting.
• Enable others to
prepare.
• Know if the meeting was
successful.
Why
Prepare
for a
Meeting

10. • Why you are meeting
(desired outcome)
• What you will do
(agenda topics/activities)
• How people can prepare
(pre-reading and
instructions)
• How people should act
(norms)Agenda
Best
Practices

11. The 6 Meeting Whys

12. Desired Outcomes : Examples
THIS NOT THAT
List of 5-8 ideas ready to
share with management
for their input.
To brainstorm ideas.
Alignment on progress
and resolution of open
questions.
To check in with the client
and get feedback.

13. • Provide context, get people
in the room and up to speed.
• Take in the information at
the individual’s own pace.
• People do their best thinking
(particularly introverts).
• Spend more meeting time
discussing content and less
time presenting.
The
Power of
Prework

14. THIS NOT THAT
(approx. 10 min) Review
attached file and come
prepared to answer these
questions:
• What surprised you?
• What concerns you?
• What is missing?
Review attached file.
Prework : Examples

15. • Create shared
understanding of what
behavior is allowed or
preferred.
• Empower participants to
engage with greater
confidence.
• Serve as a tool to
support the meeting
facilitator.
The
Power of
Norms

16. THIS
• Share ideas first and reserve judgment for
later
• Use a backburner to hold off-topic ideas in
order to keep the conversation focused
• Signal when you are inquiring / advocating /
playing devil’s advocate
• Avoid “no, but” statements – try to build on
the ideas of others with “yes, and”
• Decisions will be made by majority vote
• Keep meeting conversation confidential
Norms : Examples

17. • Ask for an agenda.
• Get input from others on
the agenda.
• Share the agenda and
prework at least 24
hours in advance.
• Send a reminder for the
prework 24 hours in
advance or the morning
of the meeting.
Tips for
Effective
Preparation

18. MEETING PARTICIPATION

19. • Techniques to facilitate
and engage in the
conversation.
• How note-taking can
drive productive
conversations.
• The 4 types of meeting
notes you should
capture.
What
You Will
Learn

20. • You don’t need to be the
meeting leader.
• You contribute value
through your own ideas
and eliciting those of
others.
Everyone is
a Facilitator

21. Facilitation
Techniques
LEVERAGE THE AGENDA
Develop a thoughtful agenda so it
can guide your conversation.
Techniques
– Start with a check in
– Follow the agenda
– Call upon a norm
– End with a check out

22. Facilitation
Techniques
ASK QUESTIONS
Ask questions that surface
underlying beliefs, values and
assumptions.
Techniques
– “Say more…” and The 5 Whys
– Principles vs preferences

23. Facilitation
Techniques
SYNTHESIZE
Listen and push the conversation
forward by repeating back what
you’re hearing.
Techniques
– Mirror and Reflect
– Frame options

24. Facilitation
Techniques
MAKE SPACE
Include activities that support
reflection and contribution by all
participants.
Techniques
– Think then share
– Fist of Five

25. • Drive toward a decision.
• Clarify next steps.
• Create alignment.
• Keep the meeting on
track.
• Keep others informed.
The
Power of
Notes

26. The Four
Types of
Notes
1. NOTES
Contextual information with
minimal future value.
Example
Mamie doesn’t like that the blue
call to action buttons are all the
same.

27. The Four
Types of
Notes
2. LEARNINGS
Insights and big ideas worth
remembering.
Example
Primary focus for this website is to
get people to book a product demo.
Secondary focus is to get visitors to
subscribe to the blog.

28. 3. DECISIONS
Agreements and their
explanation.
Example
Decision: Leave ‘book a demo’ as
current button styling and change
‘subscribe to blog’ styling into
something different.
Rationale: We need to clearly draw
attention to the main action and
differentiate between that and the
secondary (or any other) action.
The Four
Types of
Notes

29. 4. TASKS
Actions with an owner and due
date.
Example
What: Create options for secondary
CTA buttons/links.
Who: Dan
When: 8/15/16
The Four
Types of
Notes

30. • Make visual reminders for
facilitation techniques.
• Share facilitation
responsibility.
• Assign or rotate the note-
taking role.
• Wrap up with a review of the
Decisions and Next Steps.
• Reference previous notes.
Tips for
Effective
Participation

31. MEETING FOLLOW-THROUGH

32. • How to measure the
success of your
meeting.
• How to manage meeting
outcomes.
What
You Will
Learn

33. • Did you achieve the
Desired Outcome?
• Did you stay within time
limits?
• How engaged were the
meeting participants?
(scale of 1-5)
• Were the meeting
outcomes acted upon?
Measuring
Success

34. • Share written
documentation (notes) of
meeting outcomes.
• Communicate to other
stakeholders.
• Transfer critical
information.
• Reference outcomes as
needed.
Managing
Outcomes

35. • Everyone needs to
prepare for a meeting.
• Norms, asking questions
and other techniques
can help you facilitate
AND engage.
• Capture good meeting
notes, confirm them, and
share them.
• Be responsible for
following through.
Key
Takeaways

36. Complete this survey
bit.do/meeteor
Check out the Meeteor
Meeting App at
www.meeteor.com
@MeeteorHQ
Mamie.kanfer.stewart@meeteor.com
@MamieKS
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