How Do You Run An Efficient Meeting?

“I love meetings!” – said no one ever. Most employees don’t look forward to meetings as they are often viewed as disruptive, inefficient, or downright boring.

This is a problem, since according to a study by Verizon the average professional attends roughly 60 meetings per month. Furthermore, inefficient meetings can be very costly for companies. These costs include:

• $37 billion is lost annually to meetings.

• $338 in average salary cost of a meeting.

• 15% of organizational personnel budget is spent on meetings.

Of course, meetings are an important and necessary part of

business

. When meetings are run efficiently they can be very powerful collaborative tools. The key consideration to ask yourself before scheduling any meeting—to ensure your meeting is productive—is if having the meeting is essential, or can the goals of the proposed meeting be achieved through other avenues. This will help you determine what type of meeting you should have, and if you should have the meeting at all.

Once you’ve determined that having the meeting is necessary, there are some best practices you can follow during and before the meeting to ensure you’re meeting is efficient and productive.
Infographic courtesy of GetVoIP