It can be obvious that some meetings will be useless before they even start. It will be a waste of time for all participants and nothing will be resolved. Most often this happens when someone thinks it is enough to call a meeting and the meeting will manage itself. There hasn't been adequate preparation, and, in fact, the meeting shouldn't be taking place at all.
Companies are trying (or at least say they are trying) to save money everywhere they can. However, they often forget that unnecessary meetings that force employees to attend, without any practical purpose, are also very expensive. Try to multiply the number of hours spent in meetings by the number of participants. How many of these hours have you used efficiently?
The Time Management Ninja blog summed up the following typical mistakes in meeting organization.
1. Last minute invitations
Participants should be informed about a meeting a few days in advance. You can't expect them to leave everything they are working on and immediately run to a meeting which is not an emergency. Even though they come, they won't be giving you their full attention.
2. Too many people invited
This mistake is made over and over again. You should only invite those whose presence is absolutely necessary. For example, if you invite forty people, how can they talk to each other?
3. No agenda
Every meeting should have a topic to discuss and a program. If the participants have to be ready to discuss something, they need to know what they should be talking about and how much room they have for maneuver in the discussion. This is related to another thing that is often neglected - the distribution of important materials in advance.
4. Bad choice of location
The room you meet in should be large enough so that you can hear each other while not being too crowded. If the room has no daylight, there should at least be enough fresh air.
5. Insufficient preparation
Meetings should be prepared in advance not only in terms of the program, but also concerning the technical side of things. You shouldn't spend the first thirty minutes connecting your computer to a projector or trying to project your presentations onto the screen.
6. No goal
Every meeting should have a predetermined objective to be achieved. And not only the person calling the meeting, but all participants should be aware of it in advance.
-kk-