Effective Meetings

1. If it is worth having a meeting, it's worth writing an agenda.
   1. Deliver agenda at least a day ahead of time, preferably more.
   2. If you can use an online agenda that all attendees can edit (wiki, googledocs, etc), so much the better! But close agenda changes off at a defined time.
2. Advertise both a start and end time for the meeting. Make sure these times are observed!
   1. If you are a meeting attendee, you can do something about the chronically late meeting leader. Tactfully ask "You're a busy person. Maybe these meetings should start at quarter after the hour?"
   2. And if the meeting goes long ... just leave at the advertised end time.
3. Resolve technical issues before the meeting. Make sure the projector works, etc. No one likes a meeting that is held up by these little bugaboos.
   1. If the meeting is via technical means (webcast, videoconference, audio conference): provide simple instructions for all users.
4. Know who's leading the meeting! If the meeting leader doesn't show up, and no other leader becomes apparent within 5 minutes, end the meeting.
5. At meeting start:
   1. Take roll call. During roll call, make sure everyone has a copy of the agenda. (This will get them in the habit of bringing one next time!)
   2. Make sure everyone knows who is keeping meeting minutes.
   3. Establish the ground rules. People need to know them, so say them out loud!  
      1. Let's stay on agenda, and within each agenda topic, stay on topic. (social comments before/after meeting, please)
      2. Disagreement/suggestions for improvement are welcome!
      3. Assume silence means agreement.
      4. Be blunt - get to the point. Worry a little less about people's feelings and a little more about clarity of communications. Conversely, assume that bluntness by others is not a personal attack on you.
      5. Ask questions, but don't interrupt (especially in conference calls, although meeting leader should feel free to interrupt when someone is offtopic, off agenda, or just rambling).
6. Each agenda item should be finalized with verbal notation of how the item was resolved. Example: "This wraps up agenda Item Seven; we've resolved that John will water the flowers daily. Moving on to Item Eight now!"
1. The meeting minute-keeper should be able to write the resolution for each item; usually in three sentences or less. If no resolution, write that.
2. Identify deliverables (who, what, when) where appropriate, and note them in meeting minutes.
3. Whomever is taking minutes should not be shy about speaking up to ask questions which clarify the documented resolution/deliverables for each agenda item. Get this done before allowing the next agenda item to start!
7. Open floor portions of a meeting agenda obviously are more freeform, and don't have agenda. But open floor sessions (if you choose to have them) will be much more effective if you set up a simple format:
1. Ask for new topics to be brought up one at a time.
2. When somone brings up a new topic, ask them to summarize it in a sentence or two, so the minute-keeper can document that.
3. Keep discussion within that topic until resolution is reached. Minute-keeper documents the resolution.
4. Next topic is asked for. Repeat steps 2-4 until their are no new topics, or meeting is near ending time.
8. If your group is just getting started with having meetings, consider setting aside some time at end of agenda for a brief (<5 minute) discussion of how the next meeting can work better.
9. If a followup meeting is needed, set a date and time. If you can't get agreement on that date within 3 minutes, pick a tentative time and then let the wrangling occur in email or your groupware meeting planner.
10. End the meeting (on time!) with a recap of the decisions made - and a thanks to everyone for having a productive meeting! The meeting organizer should actually say aloud "This meeting is now over." This keeps meetings from being 'half-over' for another half hour.
11. Get meeting minutes out quickly! Best within the hour, but worst case should be no more than a day later. The minutes re-affirm, clarify, and document everyone's understanding of what decisions were made; they are an essential output of any meeting that was important enough to be held in the first place.

“The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” - George Bernard Shaw

http://www.effectivemeetings.com/

Peripherally related: personally I think there needs to be an effective leader who makes decisions. So I was pretty impressed with this quote from Debian's founder Ian Murdock, given in an interview. I added emphasis:

"... you get into a situation where without strong leadership no one feels empowered to make decisions.
Sometimes you have to make decisions that are unpopular; that's what leaders do. What ends up happening
in this committee mentality is that no leader feels empowered to make decisions unless everyone agrees with
him. And since no one as the size of the organization grows ever agrees on anything, no decisions
ever get made."