An organization’s most productive meetings shouldn’t be the ones they don’t have. Yet, too many of us view meetings as the things that keep us from getting real work done.
Here are ten tips guaranteed to make your meetings suck less:

1. The easiest way to add people to your team is to subtract meetings from their calendars: an eight-person, hour-long meeting might only cost you an hour, but it costs your organization an entire day.

2. At least half of your meetings could have been an email — and your coworkers know which ones. Have the courage to ask them, and your entire organization will profit.

3. Never send a meeting invitation without telling invitees the meeting's purpose, why it’s important to do it together (and at the same time), and what you'll have accomplished once it's done.

4. Instead of making every meeting an hour, send two invites: the first for 13 minutes of optional "coffee and chat" and the second for the 47 minutes the meeting actually requires. Bonus: by setting your meetings for odd times, people are more likely to arrive on time.

5. When is the last time you got high-fives for knowing how to flip on a light switch in a dark room? If you're running a virtual meeting, being good with the technology isn't an accomplishment, it's a requirement.

6. Favor familiarity over functionality, because no matter the tool you're using for your virtual meetings, at least 1/3 of your audience will struggle with its most basic functions if they don't use it every day.

7. You'd never present from a stage with a mirror in your hand. In virtual meetings, hide your self-view so you'll focus on attendees more and yourself less.

8. Zoom hours are like dog years: each one feels like at least three in person. Rediscover the telephone and encourage everyone to walk while you talk. You'll be surprised how engaged your team becomes when they're not staring at a screen for the 7th hour in a row.

9. At the end of every meeting, make two lists: the decisions you made and the decisions you need -- and be certain there's someone assigned to go "get" the ones on the second list before you meet again.

10. The best investment you can make in your career is to improve your meeting IQ. When every meeting you run is crisply led and outcome-focused, you'll earn the trust of your peers, the admiration of your leaders, and more than a few extra dollars in each paycheck.

If you liked these ideas, check out our Meeting Design Canvas from @meetatfilament https://www.thefilament.com/blog/2020/10/new-and-improved-filament-meeting-design-canvas

And you can sign up for an event I'm leading tomorrow on meeting design for @ILTANet here: https://www.iltanet.org/live-events/autumn-events?ssopc=1#iv