Effective Meetings

Meetings are important and necessary in building an effective ministry.  However, many of us waste valuable time of our leaders and volunteers though ineffective and poorly planned meetings.  I hope some of the tips listed will help you plan and facilitate meetings that matter.

1. Meeting preparation:

• Should a team help plan and give direction to the meeting or is it one that you plan alone
• What do you want to accomplish through the meeting?  What is the purpose?
• Establish doable goals.
• Is this meeting necessary or can you have three conversations to accomplish the goal?

2. Participation:

• Check to make sure all "necessary" people can attend the meeting.
• Postpone the meeting if key participants are unable to attend.
• Give at least two weeks notice of meetings so participants will have time to schedule and RSVP.

3. Distribution of all material:

• Mail/email all meeting material out at least 48 hours in advance allowing participants time to read through them.
• Contact each participate to make sure they received the materials, don't assume they received them.

4. During the meeting:

• Set a positive tone.
• Help the group stay focused.
• Refer to the material that was distributed before hand.
• Involve everyone, don't allow the dominant personalities to control the meeting.
• Create specific follow-up actions with deadlines.

5. Post meeting

• Email meeting minutes within 24 hours.
• Follow-up individually with each member who has ownership of a follow-up us action to offer encouragement, support and accountability.
• Debrief the meeting to ensure that you are continuously improving and building successful teams and leadership.