How long should you spend preparing for a meeting?

It can be tricky to decide how long you should spend preparing for a meeting, whether you’re the organiser or an attendee.

When you’re the person planning the event, it’s doubly important to be well-prepared, as the structure of a meeting is the key to avoiding issues.

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Research shows a staggering 78% of employees feel they attend meetings that are either “sometimes” or “always” out of control. The poll, by Survey Monkey, revealed 54% of dissatisfied employees blamed their direct manager or upper management for getting it wrong. Even more damaging is the fact they feel 31 hours a month are wasted in unproductive meetings. This equates to a whole week’s work for most of us.

Employees said they would rather go to the dentist, watch a public information channel on TV in the doctor’s waiting room, or talk politics at a family dinner than sit through a bad meeting.

Importance of meeting preparation

No-one wants to be remembered as the person who wasted everyone’s time with a disorganised and unproductive meeting. If you’ve organised a gathering that has left everyone feeling energised, with clear knowledge of how to move forward, you’ve done your job well.

Having the right preparation means you can accomplish your aims in a relatively short amount of time, but having established how vital meeting preparation is, what steps should you take to help ensure its success?

While there are no hard and fast rules, many managers follow one simple guideline: at the very least, spend the same amount of time planning for a meeting as you spend in the actual meeting. For example, if you’re organising a 60-minute meeting, spend at least an hour preparing for it, although this isn’t set in stone.

While it’s inadvisable to take less than an hour getting ready, you may need to take longer, depending on the type of meeting and who’s going to be there.

If you’re holding a weekly get-together with your team, this will take less preparation than a special meeting with the CEO and other high-level executives to discuss expanding to an international market. However, never rush the preparation, even for lower-stake meetings, as they are all important in their own way.

Consider this

A big part of preparing for the meeting is inviting the right people. We’ve all experienced an event that has ballooned in size, until the number of meeting attendees squeezed into the room is untenable.

If you realise everyone’s packed like sardines into the venue, learn from the bad experience and determine who absolutely must be at your next meeting. When you look around and see disinterested people checking their email and multitasking on a laptop, it’s likely their attendance isn’t vital. Next time, send them the minutes afterwards instead to keep them in the loop.

The main purpose of every meeting, no matter what the topic, is to tell everyone something they need to know, or make a decision. Think about who you require to accomplish these tasks and don’t invite people who aren’t involved simply because you feel they should be there. You’ll be doing yourself a favour, not to mention the employees who aren’t invited, as you’re sparing them from wasting an hour of their life sitting in a meeting that has no real relevance to them.

Is there a minimum number of attendees for a meeting?

Two colleagues having a discussion at a specific time in a designated room can constitute a meeting. However, this is likely to be a specific type of meeting, such as an appraisal, for example.

The general consensus is that a meeting with eight to ten delegates, plus one or two leaders, or four to six attendees with one leader, is an ideal number for decision making.

Up to 15 attendees is a workable number for planning strategies, with one responsible for minute-taking/recording the meeting and another keeping track of time and making sure none of the agenda items overrun.

According to studies, 54% of meetings have between four and six attendees, 27% have seven to ten, 12% have less than three and 7% have 11 or more delegates.

Choosing a meeting venue

Make sure you have adequate space for the number of people attending when organising meeting room hire. Nothing kills enthusiasm quicker than feeling uncomfortable in an overcrowded room. When too many people are packed into a small space, the CO2 being exhaled becomes more concentrated. This can cause drowsiness, headaches, restlessness and poor concentration.

Make an informed decision on how much space you’ll need and the room layout before you book a meeting room in London to make sure you get it right.

How to prepare an agenda for a meeting

Around one-fifth of attendees cite failing to observe the allocated time and not sticking to the agenda as their biggest meetings gripe. The leader must allow an appropriate amount of time for discussion without dragging it out.

Prepare the agenda by following several steps, starting by clearly defining the meeting’s goals. Be specific to help steer the discussions and make sure everyone remains focused. This also helps delegates to prepare too.

Invite input from attendees before you finalise things to create an inclusive plan. This means reaching out to team members to ask if they need anything in particular to be added. Outline all the questions for discussion, starting with the main topic, as having a list to work through will help keep the meeting on track.

Determine the purpose of each item on the agenda, keep it transparent and ensure everyone understands the relevance of the discussion points and how they relate to the meeting’s overall goal.

Allocate the appropriate amount of time to each item, allowing for discussion and decision-making. Assigning a facilitator to keep the meeting on topic and on time is an important step.

Finally, write the meeting’s agenda and distribute it around a week in advance so other people have time to prepare properly too. It can be helpful to draw up a checklist for meeting preparation and tick tasks off as you complete them.

Preparing adequately for a meeting shows colleagues you value their time. Always keep to the structure to avoid any issues, as it can appear unprofessional if there’s no navigation or a clear purpose.

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