Estimated time to read is 15 minutes

“When people say they don’t like meetings, it sounds to me a bit like people saying they don’t like food. Clearly, they are terrible meetings (and terrible food), but both are necessary. When done right, both can be AWESOME.” ~ Evan Williams, CEO of Medium

A great meeting can:

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They get everyone on the same page by getting your team involved and engaged, boosting creativity and participation.

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<aside> <img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 24 24' stroke='black' fill='none' stroke-linecap='round' stroke-width='2' stroke-linejoin='round'%3e%3cpath stroke='none' d='M0 0h24v24H0z' fill='none'/%3e%3cline x1='12' y1='12' x2='12' y2='12.01' /%3e%3cpath d='M14.828 9.172a4 4 0 0 1 0 5.656' /%3e%3cpath d='M17.657 6.343a8 8 0 0 1 0 11.314' /%3e%3cpath d='M9.168 14.828a4 4 0 0 1 0 -5.656' /%3e%3cpath d='M6.337 17.657a8 8 0 0 1 0 -11.314' /%3e%3c/svg%3e" alt="data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 24 24' stroke='black' fill='none' stroke-linecap='round' stroke-width='2' stroke-linejoin='round'%3e%3cpath stroke='none' d='M0 0h24v24H0z' fill='none'/%3e%3cline x1='12' y1='12' x2='12' y2='12.01' /%3e%3cpath d='M14.828 9.172a4 4 0 0 1 0 5.656' /%3e%3cpath d='M17.657 6.343a8 8 0 0 1 0 11.314' /%3e%3cpath d='M9.168 14.828a4 4 0 0 1 0 -5.656' /%3e%3cpath d='M6.337 17.657a8 8 0 0 1 0 -11.314' /%3e%3c/svg%3e" width="40px" /> Make an Impact

You can create a space for accountability and clear outcomes. During your meetings you can get laser-focused on things like decisions that need to be made and project outcomes.

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You can use your meeting time to lead your team to greater creativity and innovation through ideation sessions and brainstorming. You can reinforce what’s working well and work together to figure out how to fix what’s broken through constructive retrospection.

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In a team meeting you can model inclusion, decision making, prioritization, delegation, and strategic thinking! People can learn by watching you.

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Making Meetings Matter

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Most multitasking in remote meetings involves email checking, where employees answer and write emails during a meeting. At least 55% of employees perform this type of multitasking, which is also more likely to occur when meetings are longer.

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This isn’t surprising, considering the average employee attends at least eight meetings per week. When only five to eight people attend, as opposed to 100, only the people who will actually contribute should attend. This also ensures that the people who don’t attend won’t have their time wasted.

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Over 55% of remote workers think that a majority of meetings “could have been resolved in an email.” And this is just the most common pet peeve among workers. Other annoyances include: “people with loud background noises,” as well as unprepared people and off-topic discussions.

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10 Tips for Planning and Facilitating Group Meetings

Even though you may have a specific list of items that need to be addressed, it’s always a good idea to find out if there are related items that should be added. This can make employees feel more invested in the meeting and can lead to better attendance, participation and follow-through.

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Once the agenda is solidified, distribute it in advance, if possible. This way, everyone will know what will be discussed and can plan accordingly.

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