3 Ways to Keep Meetings Short (Every Time)

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3 Ways to Keep Meetings Short (Every Time)

These three steps will keep your meetings from dragging on and on and on.

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You know the feeling. You're in a meeting, and your eyes hurt because you've been rolling them at

people who keep talking about nothing. You wonder if they have any consideration for other people's

time. The topic at hand is either irrelevant or overdiscussed. You can amuse yourself with your iPad

and texting, but getting caught playing Words With Friends is an embarrassing situation and ultimately

won't help get the stack of work off your desk.

It doesn't have to be this way. Meetings can be productive without taking a ton of time and sapping your

life energy. After facilitating hundreds of meetings and strategic planning retreats, I have found some

easy ways to manage the time. Here are three simple ways to protect yourself and others from run-on

meetings.

1. Set a Specific and Detailed Agenda

Often meetings are set with only a general topic in hopes that the conversation will take care of itself.

This leads to open discussion that can run on forever.

2. Invite Only the People You Really Need

When you think about it, a meeting with six executives could be costing the company hundreds of

dollars per hour. If only two people are having most of the conversation, most of that money is going

straight down the toilet. Additionally, the people not involved in the conversation feel frustrated and

angry that their time is being wasted.

When you build your agenda for the meeting, list only the people absolutely required for each of

the agenda items.