The home builders association in Chicago regularly scheduled their monthly board meeting which had about thirty members to last two hours. In the two years before I was President they rarely took less than three. Attendance was dropping because the meetings were too long and not as productive as they could be. At my first meeting I announced that I appreciated the time that everyone on the board was donating and stated my intention to keep all the meetings within the allotted time.
There were several challenges including the fact that some board members thought of the meeting as social occasions, others thought their mission was to oppose change of any kind by reminding the other members of the board often and passionately how things used to be, and some liked to hear themselves talk. This last group wanted to speak at every meeting even when they had nothing to new to say.
I reviewed the typical agenda. There were a number of oral reports from committees that we could eliminate and replace them with written reports that were distributed with the agenda. This allowed the information to be distributed without taking excessive time on details.
For the financial part of the agenda we include a detailed written report and had the accountant or financial presenter do a quick overview and then answer questions. Accountants and other financial types are by necessity detailed. They often if given the opportunity will become a teacher and try to explain every nuance of a financial report. Give the topic all the time it needs but keep it simple. Answer questions and move on.
Some techniques to keep meetings moving
· Determine what you want to accomplish in the meeting
· Set an agenda based on what you intend to accomplish and follow it. If there is an item that does not contribute to achieving the purpose of the meeting eliminate it if possible.
· If it is a large meeting follow Roberts's Rule of Order
· Start the meeting on time even if not all the participants are there. If you develop the habit of starting late participants will feel they can come late and still be on time. If you want to finish on time start by starting on time.
· Do not allow individuals to ramble on. Make sure they have the opportunity to state their opinion but when they start to repeat themselves move the discussion on.
· If a discussion begins to repeat even if the opinions are being expressed by different people the chairman of the meeting can ask for a show of hands on the topic so everyone in the room gets to express their opinion without time consuming repetition. If this does not move the discussion on have someone in the room prepared to "call the question." Under Robert's Rules of Order this Calling the Question requires an immediate vote on the issue.
· Near the end of the meeting remind everyone the deadline for reports for the next meeting and invite them to submit agenda items in advance. This keeps the "new business" part of the meeting from bogging down.
The hardest part of running an efficient meeting is making sure everyone feels they had an opportunity to have their opinion heard. I always ask before every vote or change in topic if there are any new thoughts on the subject.
After a few months I earned the reputation as the "meeting minimizer." The Board meetings were not only finishing on time but often in half the allotted time. The attendance increased as board members saw more value in the meetings and less wasted time.
Midway through my one year term I was asked to chair a meeting of our trade show committee. When I asked how long they usually took I was told that the meeting was scheduled for five hours but it often ran over. I did not have five hours or more to dedicate to this meeting but I had already said yes. I looked at the agenda and with the help of the staff member advising the committee determined what member of the committee was responsible for each item. There were twelve members of the committee.
I followed the rules listed above beginning with starting on time. Nearly half the committee filtered in after the meeting started. I had to jump around the agenda until all members of the committee arrived. Often throughout the meeting I asked if there was any thing anyone wanted to add to the discussion. At the end of the meeting I asked if there were any topic that we had not touched that needed attention or if there was any further discussion required on topics we did cover and I saw no hands raised.
After the meeting I was told by several on the committee including the staff member that it was one of the best meetings the committee had had. And it took exactly 35 minutes.
Meetings are important particularly for a large group but keeping focus can minimize the time expenditure and increase productivity.
Original content copyright 2010 Thomas Robinson
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