The document outlines 15 rules for effective meetings. Key points include only scheduling necessary meetings with the required attendees, having clear agendas and goals, assigning roles like facilitator and timekeeper, recording action items, limiting meetings to under 45 minutes, and not using meeting time to share information that could be sent by email instead. The rules are intended to make meetings more focused and productive.

1. JR Joaquín Roca
Meeting Rules:
1. First, ask yourself if this meeting is necessary.
2. Second, ask yourself who really needs to be there.
3. Whenever possible, schedule meetings back to back.
4. No meetings on Friday.
5. All meetings have to have agendas. Here's a sample, though you can create one yourself if you like. It
doesn't have to be elaborate, but it does have to exist.
6. A meeting without an agenda is a meeting you don’t have to attend.
7. All meetings should have defined goals listed in the agenda.
8. Use a "parking lot" to record off topic ideas and get back to the goals (unless the thing that popped up is
more important. If it is, this is a new meeting and needs a new agenda).
9. Assign roles before the meeting (e.g., facilitator, scribe, timekeeper).
10. Make sure everyone knows what the outcomes of the meeting and decision points are expected to be
before the meeting.
11. Record time-bound action items and assign owners at the end of the meeting.
12. Normal meetings shouldn't be longer than 45 minutes (this doesn't mean they should last 45, it means they
shouldn't be LONGER than 45 minutes. Change the default meeting length in your calendar right now).
13. Don't use meeting time to share new information that can be shared in an email prior to the meeting.
14. Just because you CAN sit in on a meeting doesn’t mean you should.
15. If you’re invited to listen to a meeting, don’t participate unless expressly asked. You can give your input at
an appropriate time later.
me@JoaquinRoca.com Meeting Rules
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013