Now, you probably won’t be able to get out of most meetings, so here are some tips for making meetings more effective
Source: Top 10 Productivity Hacks – #5 : zen habits
- Every meeting should have an agenda. People should know, beforehand, what will be discussed, so they can be prepared.
- The agenda should include the desired outcome. If it’s not on the agenda beforehand, it should be the first thing you bring up in the meeting, right when (or even just before) the meeting starts: what do you want to accomplish in the meeting?
- Take notes of important points, especially next actions. Mark the next actions with arrows or asterisks or something, so you can see them at a glance later.
- Review the next actions at the end of the meeting. Everyone should leave the meeting knowing what decisions were made, and what everyone needs to do next.
- Harvest all next-actions to your to-do lists immediately after the meeting, so you don’t forget.
- If you’re still stuck going to a completely useless meeting, take your read/review folder into the meeting. At least you can use that time productively by cranking through your stuff that you need to read or review. I also like to use this time to brainstorm for ideas or plan projects.