Project Management Framework
Execution - Meeting Management

How to do Meeting Management

Meetings are often the best way to communicate or perform work. However, they are expensive because they bring a group of people together at the same time doing the same thing.

Meetings take place for many reasons - information sharing, commitment building, problem solving, decision-making, planning, brainstorming, status delivery, and presentations. A project requires several specific types of meetings:

• Steering Committee.
• Status reporting.
• Work sessions to develop the project Charter and various project management plans.
• Change management meetings.
• Issue resolution meetings.
• Daily meetings with the team members to review status, issues, and the day's activity (standup meetings).
• Others

To be effective, a project manager needs to get the most out of the many meetings he or she will organize and run during the course of a project. There are meeting management best practices that can help assure success for any type of meeting.

For Best Results

• Do not hold a meeting if you can convey the information by e-mail or phone, when people are not prepared, when key people cannot attend, and when there is no clear purpose.
• Be clear about the reason for having a meeting. Define the objectives and success criteria for the meeting.
• Make sure the right people are at the meeting. Consider who will provide necessary input, whose buy-in is important to move forward, and who is needed to make a decision.
• Prepare a solid agenda.
• Send the agenda out to all the attendees in advance of the meeting.
• Start the meeting with a review of the agenda and then introductions (if necessary). If there are pre-assigned reports or presentations, put them early in the meeting. This will maintain accountability for assignments, reduce presenters' apprehension, and allow presenters to focus better on the subsequent items because their presentation will be over.
• Make sure participants understand the purpose of the meeting and have enough background to make the meeting productive. Send out meeting materials early enough so participants have a chance to review them.
• Prepare thoroughly to make sure the meeting will be productive. Plan to make the meeting flow smoothly and productively.
• Prepare, setup, and test meeting materials and facilities.
• Plan, assign, and discuss roles.
• Establish ground rules.
• Keep and distribute minutes.
• Close the meeting with a summary of the decisions, progress that was made during the meeting, action items, and remaining issues.
• Distribute minutes to the participants, invitees who could not attend, and other interested parties soon after the meeting.
• Check the Communication Plan and Schedule and Task Plans to see what meetings are called for during the project and plan early for them.
• Store minutes somewhere available to stakeholders.
• Follow up with people who had action item assignments.

Also Consider

• Using the leadership style that will best assure success (autocratic - leader decides; democratic - majority rules; consensus - group mutually agrees).
• Using brainstorming when you want to generate ideas rapidly and have one thought lead to another.
• Using round robin or nominal group technique when you want to give every participant a chance to be heard in turn.
• Asking open-ended questions rather than questions that can be answered with a "yes" or "no" to get to an in-depth discussion.
• Setting a realistic timeframe for each agenda item. One common problem with meetings is packing the agenda and the group never gets to the last items, runs over the schedule, or rushes through at the end.
• Having pre-meeting formal and/or informal communication with the participants to make sure the group understands why they are there and gets directly to the meeting objectives.
• Holding a meeting to show the customer that everyone is working hard to meet the project objectives.
• Using a "parking lot" to list issues or items that cannot be resolved at the time, are taking more time than allotted, or are important but off the topic of discussion.
• Scheduling meetings that consider what time and day are best for most of the participants.
• Scheduling recurring meetings in different places. If the regular participants are not co-located, it is considerate to alternate locations.
• Using video conferencing, conference calls, or web conferences if the participants are located some distance away from each other.
• Getting enough rest, eating right, and avoiding too much caffeine or other stimulants. Meetings can be stressful.
• Bringing toys to a meeting as a stress reliever and icebreaker.

Related Links:
Meeting Minutes and Agenda Examples

Checklists

MEETING MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST
Before the Meeting/Meeting Purpose, Content, & Participants
Do you really need to have a meeting?
Does the agenda outline the things to be discussed, the time allotted to each item, the nature of the item (e.g., discussion, presentation, decision), and the person leading the group during that item.
Are the right people invited to the meeting (e.g., people with the knowledge, decision-makers, vital stakeholders)?
Before the Meeting/Materials & Facility:
Prepare handouts.
Gather meeting materials (e.g., nametags, markers, writing materials, sign-in sheets, water, coffee).
Arrange for all audio/visual equipment needs.
Arrange seating and tables appropriately.
Confirm that the presenters will be there and gather everything they need.
Confirm the facility availability.
Confirm the facility will hold all the people and accommodate the technology.
Test the technology before the meeting.
Before the Meeting/Roles & Responsibilities:
Make sure the facilitator is familiar with the meeting's purpose and content.
Be clear about who is running the meeting and setting the agenda compared with who is facilitating the discussion and making sure the ground rules are followed.
Determine the role(s) for the participants.
Decide whether you want a recorder to take minutes.
Decide whether you need a timekeeper to watch the time for each agenda item.
Before the Meeting/Document Ground Rules to Make Them Visible During the Meeting:
Start and end on time.
What is the decision-making process (e.g., voting, consensus).
Hold one conversation at a time.
Honor points of view that are different than yours.
No idea is stupid.
Speak openly and honestly.
Do not interrupt.
Do not monopolize the discussion.
After the Meeting:
Do the minutes include a list of attendees, the topics discussed, the decisions, the action items with assignments, and the open issues?
Have the minutes been distributed to the interested stakeholders and invitees who were not able to attend as well as the participants?
Are the minutes available on-line to interested stakeholders?
Have follow-up communications been made to people with action items to make sure they understand their assignment?