5 Ideas for More Inspiring Meetings

How to Have Better Meetings

More than 1,600 people responded to our 1-Question Survey…
What Frustrate You Most About Meetings?

The Top 10 Frustraters About Meetings

1. Allowing attendees to ramble and repeat the same comments and thoughts.
2. Doesn't start on time, stay on track, or finish on time.
3. No specific action steps or walk-away points.
4. No clear purpose or objective.
5. Not inspiring or motivating.
6. Not organized. No agenda.
7. Too long.
8. Repeating information for late arrivals.
9. Weak presenter (unprepared, monotone, overly redundant).
10. Boring. Nothing new or interesting.

Sam Parker has had over a half-century leading, keynoting, and attending hundreds of meetings of all sizes within almost every industry. Having talked with hundreds of people about their thoughts on meetings, here is what we can do to make meetings better.

Advice on Running a Meeting

Do your best to avoid doing or allowing the things that annoy people (review the list above).

Very Important: Make the meeting about helping your attendees leave better as a result of investing their time with you and/ or the group. Be sure to use some of the time to inspire and encourage people. A helpful question to guide you: What do I hope people will think about and do in the days/ weeks/ months following the meeting?

Respect your attendees' time and attention by preparing well, communicating well, and keeping the meeting on track.

Never fill or kill time. It's not why we're here. We're here to make good things happen for other people. (That's the universal mission statement.)

When fitting, before the meeting, connect with a few of your more engaged people and encourage them to help you keep enthusiasm and attention high by modeling those behaviors themselves. (It’s part of Leading Simply.)

If you have D-grunts on your team (disgruntled people who work to make things difficult), don't invite them if at all possible. Then ask yourself why you're allowing them to be on your team at all. Life's too short to tolerate D-grunts.

End your meeting ... meaningfully.

How to End a Meeting

There’s a psychological concept called The Peak-End Rule. Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Fredrickson are the best-known people behind the idea.

Bottom line: We tend to judge our experiences based on the peak moments of those experiences and then, how the experience ends (rather than the experience as a whole).

True or not, it makes sense to deliberately think about how we can create positive peak experiences during the meetings we lead; and how we end those meetings.

Advice for Remote Meetings

When so much of the world went remote in 2020, we asked our subscribers and customers to share what they love and don't about remote video meetings. People at all levels of different types of organizations shared:
"I don't want to have my camera on all the time and have to be concerned with how I look."
"I don't want to have to be 'on' in every meeting."
"I don't have any other space than my bedroom."
"It's very difficult to control my pets/kids."

We understand the sentiment and truth behind all of these responses. Even so, why not choose to be attentive (mindful of the comfort of others) and do what you can to make the experience better for everyone?

1. Know the basics of the tool you use (on/off camera and audio buttons, share screen function, chat, sound levels, etc.) before joining a meeting.
2. Turn on your camera if it’s a video call.
3. Stay attentive to muting and unmuting your microphone as appropriate.
4. Avoid using distracting backgrounds.
5. Don’t eat unless it’s part of the agenda.
6. Minimize the chances of pets and kids running into view.
7. Be prepared, on time, and engaged.
8. Respect others. (So much here!)
9. Smile here and there.
10. Avoid doing other things when someone else is talking.
11. Do your part to keep the meeting on track.
12. Dress appropriately.
13. Don’t sit in a bed. (I’ve never seen someone do this in a conference room. Might be funny.)

If you're leading the meeting, ask yourself "What's our goal for this time?" and share the answer at the start of your meeting. It can help frame things for other people and improve expectations and focus.

Optimize your lighting. Ideally, your light source should be in front of you to illuminate your face. A window behind you will negatively affect the lighting.

Look directly at the camera from time-to-time rather than only at the people on your screen. Give people the feeling you're looking at them just as you would if you were physically in front of them. (You look at people in the eyes when you talk, right?)

Raise your camera/computer to your eye-level. You’ll look better. It's as simple as some books or a box under your computer.

Unless you're in incredible shape, you don’t want to watch someone talk from a phone or tablet in your lap with your camera on. Trust me. (I hope that made you laugh.)

Consider an external microphone to improve your sound quality. It can make a big difference.

Advice on Attending a Meeting

Make the time valuable. Allow yourself to get something from the meeting. There’s almost always something of value when you look for it.

Be a grown-up.

Be attentive, answer questions, and be a part of the discussion where you can.

Participate in the same way you’d like people to participate if you were leading the meeting.

Avoid the D-grunts (the disgruntled people). They don't make good things happen for people and likely won't help your career. (Really.)

And whether your running the meeting or attending it...

Remember, perfection is tough. Give people the break you’d like to be given. (It’s one of the ways to Love Your People.)