The Meeting

First of all, I am not speaking about any meeting in particular. It has been a while since I have vented about the bad meeting.

Anyway, it is like me venting on bad driving (You know the people who do not turn right on red and so on) There are some basic things that every meeting should have! Here is my short list;

A leader (Facilitator, director, coordinator so on)
An agenda with a specific goal to achieve at the end
Less than 10 people that are contributing. (OK you can play this a bit loose, but what matters is smaller with the decision makers in the room is the best)
Do not go backwards. Once a decision is made, move on. If people are trying to go back, do not let them.
Set a time limit
Do not have meetings just to “Have Meetings”
If needed consult with members attending to see what their agenda is for the meeting (if you are the facilitator)
Sometimes closed questions are good.
If you are not going to listen to the participants, just cancel the meeting and email them what you are doing. Stop wasting our time.
Start on time and end on time.
If you have details that need resolved with individuals in the meeting wait till the end. Don’t waste everyone’s time.
Time is money, Take the number of people in the meeting times at least $30 an hour. Know what your meeting time is worth.