What tips would you offer to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of project meetings?

Friends,

Effectiveness of meeting can only increase if we understand basics. Effectiveness can be increased it it is well organized.

The primary importance of a well-organized meeting is cost efficiency. The less time spent in meetings, the more productive and revenue-generating employees can be. Therefore, when meetings are thoroughly planned and organized, employees don’t have to waste time.

A well-organized meeting also has a tremendous influence on the success of a team. In addition to the informationsharing purpose, a team meeting also strengthens interpersonal bonds, improves communication and teamwork, increases team morale and satisfaction, and boosts productivity. All of these meeting by products enhance team effectiveness and success.

A well-organized meeting also effectively allows management to address any pressing issues succinctly, informatively, and objectively. This presentation method provides participants the opportunity to form their own opinions regarding the information and comment when and where necessary. Furthermore, attendees are generally more receptive to information presented in well-organized meetings because they appreciate the time and effort put into the planning process.

Characteristics

Most presenters claim that their meetings are organized and well planned, regardless of the actual effectiveness, because stating the contrary would be self-defeating. To help presenters guarantee that all prepared meetings are effective and successful, the following list identifies the most common characteristics of well-organized meetings.

·         A meeting agenda is prepared ahead of time and distributed to attendees for preparation and recommendation of additional topics.

·         A third-party employee is designated as the note-taker to record attendees, agenda progress, key decisions, future meetings, and action items.

·         The meeting begins on time.

·         Late attendees are not permitted entry to avoid interruption and confusion due to missing critical introductory information necessary to effectively contribute to the discussion.

·         The presenter sets the ground rules, which include: meeting start and finish times, designation of how much time will be spent on each topic, detailing how each member is expected to contribute, and identifying how conflict will be resolved.

·         The attendees are required to be professional in attire, discussion, and non-verbal communication.

·         The organizer and participants are respectful of everyone’s time when making comments and proposing courses of action.

·         Participants are expected to be attentive and involved, which may warrant cell-phone and laptop bans during the meeting.

·         The presenter reiterates important concepts to reinforce attention, involvement, and retention of information.

·         The presenter limits discussion to only those items on the agenda and closely monitors the allotted time for each topic.

·         The presenter asks for diverse points of view and opinions, which helps avoid groupthink during decision-making discussions.

·         The presenter ends the meeting on time.

Ways to Improve Meeting Effectiveness

Since not every meeting can be100% organized, planned, and executed, there is always room for improvement in meeting preparations. There are two ways a meeting organizer can improve the effectiveness of a meeting – to ensure attendees stay on topic and maintain the attention of all attendees.

Stay on Topic

For a meeting to be effective and efficient, it is critical to ensure all participants stay on topic. This can be accomplished in at least three ways. First, the presenter can ensure the discussion does not stray from the agenda items and adheres to the allotted time frame. Second, the presenter can frequently remind the attendees of the meeting objectives, progress, and items yet to be addressed. Third, the meeting organizer can reiterate critical discussion points and relate them back to agenda items when necessary.

Maintain Attention

In order for attendees to benefit from the meeting, all participants must be actively involved and attentive throughout the entire meeting. Regardless of team size, this can primarily be accomplished by allowing the participants to lead the meeting through the agenda items and discussion, while the meeting organizer simply guides them through the process. Second, the presenter can acknowledge and reinforce positive behaviors to encourage additional repetition and involvement. Finally, a10-minute break should be provided each hour to allow attendees to get situated, handle other business, and regroup their thoughts.

 Thanks

Meetings are the third major time waster in the world of work. As much as50% of working time is spent in meetings, either group meetings or one-on-one meetings. In the estimate of almost everyone, at least50% of this time is wasted. This means that as much as25% of all working time is lost in meetings of one kind or another.

However, meetings are not an evil. Meetings are a necessary business tool for exchanging information, solving problems, and reviewing progress. But they must be managed and they must be used effectively.

Here are7 ways to increase the efficiency and improve the results of meeting time:

1. Is the meeting necessary?Many meetings turn out, in retrospect, to be unnecessary. .

2. Write an agenda.If you have determined that the meeting is necessary, establish a clear purpose for the meeting, and write up an agenda. 

3. Start and stop on time.Set a schedule for the beginning of the meeting, and set a time for the end of the meeting. 

4. Cover important items first.When you draw up the agenda, apply the80/20 rule. Organize the agenda so that the top20% of items are the first items to be discussed. 

5. Summarize each conclusion.When you discuss each item on your meeting agenda, summarize the discussion and get closure. 

6. Assign specific responsibility.If you have made a decision, assign responsibility for the specific actions agreed upon and set deadlines. 

7. Keep notes and circulate minutes.A key to getting maximum effectiveness from meetings is to keep accurate notes and to circulate the minutes of the meeting within twenty-four hours.

focused working...... agenda setting for meeting , priorties setting ........why meeting is important ....... who must be part of meeting ... how much time required for any meeting and why ........ what must be the logical conclusion of meeting ..

The subject of "effective/successful meeting" is very important in project management and in other activities in general.  Unfortunately,  it is NOT so because of bad and wrong practices dominating our meetings nowadays. The idea behind effective/successful meetings is that  ...

1. The RIGHT people
2. Meet at the RIGHT place  and time 
3. For the RIGHT duration (from start time to end time of the meeting)
4. To discuss the RIGHT topic(s) 
5. And come with the RIGHT decisions, conclusions and recommendations/suggestions 

To achieve the above, there are steps and actions necessary to ensure the effectiveness and success of these meetings 

1. Before the meeting ... planning and preparation for the meeting 
2. During the meeting ... execution of the meeting
3. After the meeting  ... to communicate the outcomes and follow on agreed actions 

In effective/successful meetings, it is important to pay attention to lots of things at the detail level to make sure that all participants in the meeting and those who approve these meetings are all happy and satisfied that these meetings are achieving the desired/needed reasons and justifications behind them

As we know, meetings can be REGULAR or AD-HOC  and each type of meeting will have its considerations in the planning, preperation, execution and communication/followup phases. Meetings can also be FORMAL or INFORMAL and this also needs tb be taken in consideration, specially for INFORMAL meetings involving KEY STAKEHOLDERS of the project. 

Lastly, I would recommend a logical flow of these effective/successful meetings to be followed and addressed during the three phases mentioned above 

1. Why is this meeting necessary ?  ....  (reason/justification for the meeting) 
2. What is to be addressed in this meeting  ?  ....  (Agenda of the Meeting)
3. How long should this meeting go ?  ........      (just enough to address the qagenda topics not less and not more)
4. Who should be in this meeting and why ?  ....    (participants/attendees/invitees)
5. Who should handle each and every agenda item ?   ...  (active participation and distribution of responsibilities)
6. What is needed for each item of the meeting ? ...  ( documentationl, sources, tools, people)
7. Place and time for the meeting  ??  .......  (adequacy and suitabiluty)
8. What is needed during the meeting ? ....  (faciltities, equipment, stationery,  drinks, snacks, ...) 
9. How long should the meeting go ?    .......(Duration of the meeting enough to address the agenda items)
10. Who should run the meeting ....  (meeting chair person)
11. Who should assist the chair person in running the meeting ?  (time keeper, admin, documenter)
12. When should the invitation to the meeting  go to the participants ? ... (enough time to make them attend)
13. Strict adherence to the items in the agenda .... (to remain focused and not abuse the purpose and duration of the meeting)
14. Good time-keeping and recording of what goes in the meeting ?
15. Communication of the outcomes (results, conclusions, suggestions, decisions) to those who need to know these outcomes and those who will be involved in implementing/execuring these outcomes.
16. Follow-up with on the action-items resulting from this meeting with the assigned people and ensuring proper implementation/execution of these outcomes. 
17. Always consider MINIMIZING  the number of people participating in these meetings while ensuring all those who need to be there must be there 
18. Always consider MINIMIZING the duration (time spent) in these meetings to avoid wasting people time in non-productive things
19. Always consider ALTERNATIVES to formal meetings specially in case of "ad-hoc" situations 
20. Always consider modern facilities and their need/necessaity to facilitate and improve these meetings (netmeetings, skype, internet , phone, voice recording, video recording, ...) 

Agenda should focus more on the pending and current problems or issues that need urgent resolutions and  talk little  about accomplishments.

Such agenda have to be distributed to the meeting participants about5 days before the meeting to enable key participants to get prepared for discussions and present their respective proposals on how to come up with resolutions to problems confronting the project.

Attention to detail, no digressions, and discuss current progress. Also to discuss areas of development/improvement. 

Short and Specific

Time Bound

Clear and Concise Agenda

Briefing of conculsions and decisions taken

Circulation of Minutes of meetings

Strict Follow-up for pending action

Implementation/Action on course agreed

7. 

1- Preparing agenda.

2- Determine topics that will be discussed.

3- Determine the audiences.

4- Define a governance rules to conduct the meeting.

5- Register the recommendations.

6- Follow up the implementation of the recommendations.

i agree with "Mohammed Thiab"

Deployment the role of every participant

Time management

Focused to the targets

Specific to the subject

Objective oriented