How to make your more meeting more engaging and impactful

For many professionals, meetings are little more than an inconvenience. They are often mandatory, meander off the agenda and one or two speakers monopolize the time, leading to attendees' attentions straying and a loss of time that could have otherwise been used productively. 

One of the common complaints the Boston Business Journal received about modern meeting habits is that they are poorly managed and unfocused. To make sure that your meetings don't begin to fit this description, follow the steps below. 

• Discuss meeting roles and topics before beginning: There are few things more frustrating that sitting in a meeting where the topics aren't relevant to your project or team. Through the us of shared documents sent out before the meeting, all attendees can share the topics they need to cover. It may make more sense for only one or two professionals to meet and discuss than to fill the entire conference room with unnecessary attendees. 
• Make a concrete agenda: Once you have your topics identified, build your agenda, and stick to it. If your agenda only allots 15 minutes to a subject, but it is still being discussed 16 minutes later, move on to the next topic. Conversely, if a topic is squared away in only a few minutes, keep moving ahead. This sends the message to attendees that their time is valued and will make sure everyone gets to their next appointment on time. 
• Engage the attendees: Ask for audience participation at least once throughout the meeting. Open with an ice-breaker, ask for feedback on a topic, etc.
• End on a happy note: Even when delivering bad news, try to end your meeting on a happy note, word of encouragement, joke, or positive quote.

Often, to change engrained bad meeting habits, it can be helpful to change the regular location. The Tampa meeting rooms at On Point Executive Center provide the perfect waterfront setting to get your meetings back on track.