Effective Meetings

Usman Nazir
Institute of Business Administration
Outline
• Meetings Overview

• Preparing for Meetings

• Leading and Participating in Meetings

• Using Meeting Technologies

Activity
 Activity
Plan out and conduct a meeting. Possible scenarios for the
meeting are:

• You are the HR Director of Mehran Oils. Among other discussion points,
you are to hold a meeting to discuss a suggestion given by an employee –
‘We should ask our employees to stop smoking or leave the company’.

• You are the Sales Director of Super Refrigerators. Sales report for last year
shows 20% decline in sales revenues. Among other discussion points you
are to hold a meeting to discuss how to improve sales.

• You are the Country Head of SCP Bank. You have called out a meeting to
discuss whether the bank should invest in CSR activities or not?
 Activity
• You are the CEO of Khalil Umbrellas. The projected returns on the core
product of the company do not look good. You are to hold a meeting to
discuss whether to sell the company or not?

• You are the registrar of ABI University. You are looking to devise code of
conduct for the students. You are to hold a meeting to discuss how should
students behave in class?

- Note: Feel free to make up the missing details where appropriate.

Meetings Overview
 Meetings Overview
• Meetings are an integral part of an organization. It is usually the meetings
where the most important decisions are made for a business.

• Meetings are expensive. According to Wall Street Journal an average:

– CEO spends 17 hours per week on meetings.
– Senior executive spends 23 hours per week on meetings
– Middle manager spends 11 hours per week on meetings.
[Making Meetings Work, Julie-Ann Amos, How To Books Ltd]

• The managers researched said that only fifty-six percent of their meetings
were productive and over 25 could have been replaced by a single phone
call or a memo.

• When planning to carry out a meeting, ask this very important question –
Is a meeting necessary?
Why have a meeting? Can we achieve the same thing by issuing memo or phone calls?
 Meetings Overview
• All meetings can generally be divided into two types i.e.
planned/scheduled or unplanned/unscheduled

• It is important to make sure that the people attending the meeting feel
that it is important for them to attend the meeting.

• Three most frequently reported problems with meetings are: getting off
the subject, not having an agenda and running too long.

• The market trend in meetings is to increasingly use other forms of

communication other than face to face meetings to save time.
The most popular alternatives to face-to-face meetings are
– video conferencing
– teleconferencing
– internet
[Meetings Made Easy, Frances Micale, CWL Publishing Enterprise]
Preparing for Meetings
 Preparing for Meetings

• Decide on your purpose

• Select participants for the meeting

• Choose the time and the facility

• Set the agenda

Productive agenda answers 3 key questions:
- What do we need to do in this meeting to accomplish our goals?
- What issues will be of greatest importance to all participants?
- What information must be available to discuss these issues?
 Preparing for Meetings
A good agenda can do half your work for you before the meeting
even starts. An agenda can have many functions:
– it can give the specifics of the arrangement of the meeting
– it can list the people attending the meeting
– it lists issues and items to be raised
– it gives order in which they will be dealt with
– it can announce the responsibilities of the people attending the
meeting
– it states the purpose of the meeting
– it indicates the expected outcomes
– it can place duration on each topic to discuss
– it can list the finishing time of the meeting

[Making Meetings Work, Julie-Ann Amos, How To Books Ltd]

Preparing for Meetings

[The Perfect Meeting, David Sharman, Random House Business Books]

Preparing for Meetings

[The Perfect Meeting, David Sharman, Random House Business Books]

 Preparing for Meetings
We can summarize the meeting preparation to-do list as such:

– Identify problem/need/expectation.

– Develop a meeting outcome.

– Develop the agenda.

– Send out announcements of meeting.

– Book room, refreshments, and audiovisuals.

Leading and Participating in Meetings
 Leading and Participating in Meetings
• At the beginning of the meeting:

– Welcome the participants, make necessary introductions, and check

the status of action items from previous meetings.

– Clarify the meeting outcome

– Set role Expectations

– Contract the ground rules

– Present and describe the meeting agenda items

 Leading and Participating in Meetings
• Body of the meeting
– Keep the meeting on track
– Follow agreed-upon rules
– Encourage participation
– Participate actively
– Take important notes
(Minutes Of the Meeting – MOM, may be used)

• End of the meeting

– Conclude and summarize the progress against the outcome
– verify the action items and praise the group for their effort

• After the meeting

– Follow up on the progress of the action items
– Write down things that may improve the meetings in the future
 Leading and Participating in Meetings
• Action Items example:

[Meeting Excellence, Glenn Parker & Robert Hoffman, Jossey-Bass]

Using Meeting Technologies
 Using Meeting Technologies
• Emails

• Instant Messaging

• Shared workspaces

• Virtual Meetings
 Short Quiz
• What questions should an effective agenda answer?

• A meeting should be democratic. Everyone present

should be permitted to talk as much as he or she
wants without interference from the leader. Discuss.

• The people attending the meeting – not the leader –

should determine the agenda. Discuss.
 Assignment
Setup a meeting to discuss a topic. Suggestions
on possible topics are:
- List of top three things to do to improve your MBA
experience at IBA.
- Top 5 things we can do to improve Pakistan.
- Pros and Cons of the internet.
Thank you