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Death by MeetingLecture 7.1

University of Alberta

ALES 204

Nancy Bray

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Housekeeping

Assignment #2 Questions

Labs next week: bring a copy of your fact sheet for peer review

Guest lecture on Monday - no PowerPoint!

Practice speeches - start week of March 11

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Lecture Outline

1.How to write a business letter

2.What are meetings?

3.How do meetings work?

4.How can you make meetings better

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1. How to write a business letter

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2. What are meetings?

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11 million meetings/day in the U.S.

62 meetings/months for average professionals

37% of employee time spent in meetings

professionals estimate 50% of meetings are a waste of time

31 hours a month lost to unproductive meetings

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Professionals admit to...

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Professionals complain that...

They don’t know why they were invited

The presenter reads from the PowerPoint slides.

Meetings last too long

The flow of the meeting is disturbed by technology

No problems are ever solved

Employees are told what is wrong, but no chance to input

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A meeting is:

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1111

Why meet?

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Types of meetings

Informal Formal

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Types of meeting

Less formal More formal

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Rules of order

Informal Formal

Increased use of formal meeting procedures (rules of order)

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Robert’s Rules of Order

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How do meetings work?

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The main characters

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The Chair should:

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Chair must decide S-

P-

A-

M-

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The Agenda

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Agenda should include

Time/Venue

Who will not be able to attend (absences/regrets)

Minutes of previous meeting

Matters arising from previous meeting

Other items to discuss

Reports from sub-committees

Guest speakers

Date/venue for next meeting

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Tips:

Most difficult items should be placed in the middle third of the meeting

No longer than 90 minutes

Allocate time for each item

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Opening the meeting

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Managing the meeting

Diverting tangents

“That’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think we’re advancing our goals.”

“We’re talking about a new topic- do we want to swap out an agenda item to continue discussing it?”

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Managing the meeting

Getting to the right input:

Manage dominant personalities Give credit for ideas Manage quiet members Don’t dismiss ideas or take sides Look out for disparaging comments When questions are asked of you- turn it back to the

group

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Managing the meeting

Aim for consensus

Make a note of open items

Summarize the action items at the end of the meeting

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQW1fEwYZVA&feature=fvwre

ExampleA meeting turns into chaos because of a poor chair

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The Administrator

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List of minute elements

Title of Group / project Date / location / time Present: List all those present. Apologizes: List all those who gave apologizes. Review of minutes from last meeting. Include date and time

that minutes were accepted Discussion items Action items Other business items Date, time, chair of next meeting

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How to take minutes Taking minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPtSs04r1Y&feature=relmfu

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The Participants Drama Queen

The Grouch / Silent One

One-Track Mind

Peter PowerPoint

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Drama Queen

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How to handle the drama queen

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The Grouch

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How to deal with the grouch

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One-track mind

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How to handle one-track mind

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Peter PowerPointReads from his long-winded PowerPoint slides word for word

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How to handle Peter PowerPoint

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Can meetings get better?

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Why meetings fail

The meeting is unnecessary

The meeting is held for the wrong reason

The objective of the meeting is unclear

Lack of preparation

The wrong people are there

Lack of proper control

Poor environment

Poor timing

No follow up

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Remember

Every meeting is unique

A meeting’s success judged by the actions which result

Managing the meeting is everyone’s responsibility

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Shake things up

If a meeting isn’t necessary, don’t have one.

Try different and “new” types of meetings

Look for and provoke sources of legitimate conflict

Take notes

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Take away

Meetings are important form of communication

Don’t waste participants’ time

Know your role

Take responsibility for the productivity of the meeting no matter which role you play

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