How to Teach Students a Nontraditional Method to Have Effective Meetings

Meetings can be long, unproductive and boring. This is usually because the meeting gets off track and no concrete decisions are made. It is important to respect the time of all your meeting attendees and realize that they have gone out their way to attend your meeting. You can plan effective and fun meetings by getting everyone involved ahead of time and creating meeting goals that make sense to all the participants present at the meeting.

• 1

  Create meeting goals based on the SMART approach. Determine if your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time based.

• 2

  Send a meeting outline to all the meeting participants one day prior to the meeting. Ask the participants for feedback on the meeting goals and for their opinions on what else should be discussed during the meeting. Modify your meeting goals based on the input you receive.

• 3

  Set up a meeting Facebook page for all the attendees and encourage discussion on the page prior to the meeting.

• 4

  Create "How?", "What?", "Who?" and "When?" checklists for the meeting on a whiteboard in the meeting room. Designate one person to fill in the checklists during the meeting as you discuss your goals, how to accomplish them, who will be involved and the projected timeline.

• 5

  Bring colorful post-it notes to the meeting and have attendees fill them out with their ideas. Post them on the desk as they brainstorm on the different topics.

• 6

  Open up discussion in the last five minutes of the meeting and ask the meeting participants how they would have improved the meeting. Discuss both the meeting content and the group process. Create a list of pluses and minuses. Incorporate the feedback into the planning process for the next meeting.