How to Make Meetings More Effective

Numbers don’t lie. Meetings are often considered a waste of time and money. According to research done by Zippia, companies spend roughly 15% of their time on meetings and 71% of those meetings are considered unproductive. Moreover, an estimated $37 billion is lost annually to unproductive meetings.

Meetings can be unproductive for a variety of reasons, such as lack of clear purpose or agenda, poor time management, lack of engagement from participants, having too many attendees, and no follow-up after the meeting. When these issues are present, meetings can feel like a waste of time and fail to achieve their intended goals.

By addressing these issues and implementing strategies to make meetings more productive, you can ensure that your meetings are effective and valuable for all involved.

Here are ways to make meetings more effective and productive:

Ask yourself if the meeting is really necessary

Determine the purpose of your meeting and decide whether it’s really necessary. If you are going to share information, would an email be as effective, if not better? If something needs to be decided upon, could you talk directly to the decision-maker instead? If you need to gauge opinions, why not make a poll?