How to Run a “Google” Style Meeting

We’ve all sat through a pointless meeting with the presenter going over 40+ slides. We sit and stare as well-paid professionals’ in the room zone out to the never ending speech. Horror stories are eminent, yet by following a few key guidelines we can work to improve and save valuable money and time for everyone. With weekly or even monthly meetings it’s hard to be energized when you know that it will ultimately lead to nothing. By ordering food and having lunch during the meeting will not make anything better. To have effective, valuable, and engaging meetings it requires a few characteristics such as a proper location, clear agenda, visual cues, strong leadership, and follow up action items. Let us dive into having a “Google” style meeting. From first hand experience they do it best.

A convenient location goes a long way: Depending on your group size, a meeting location that’s central will allow everyone to get there on time. Lounges or break-rooms work well for small groups of three to four. Large groups should book ahead of time a conference room and notify all participants with a map if needed. Having your meeting over dinner in a crowded or loud place will cause distractions. Keep it close, keep it simple, and keep it quick.

Make sure the meeting location has the following:

• Ethernet cables to plug-in for each guest
• A working projector
• Whiteboard for brainstorming
• Refreshments if it’s going to be long
• Good lighting and temperature

If you don’t plan, you plan to fail: One of the most overlooked items of a meeting is an agenda. It’s important to come prepared and know what you want to cover, how much time it will take, and what questions you need answered from your team. Set the agenda and stick to it. If you have the chance, Email the agenda to each person prior to the meeting so everyone knows what to expect and will be able to contribute more.

Meetings should NOT be for:

• Giving an update with one-way flow of information. Send an Email instead.
• Creating enthusiasm or support for your idea. Use private 1 on 1 meetings instead.
• Getting everyone on the same page or resolving a disagreement.
• Getting slackers on track. Embarrassing or having to single a person out is not effective.

Keep them excited with visual cues: In each meeting there needs to be some spice. Monotone speakers and regurgitating previous meetings are useless. Take some time to put together at the least some images to go along with your slides. Have pictures or charts to express a point instead of text filled slides. Since everyone is present you can speak to your visual cues without using text to explain your message.

Essential ingredients for keeping people excited:

• Timekeeper to keep things on pace and to assure people when time is up, time is up.
• Note taker so others can listen and fully understand your message. Helps for keeping a record too.
• Whiteboard to write ideas, brainstorm, and draw flowcharts or processes

If you can’t lead, then you must follow: If you’re presenting a meeting with another person you need to set who will lead the discussion and who will follow. When you have two people leading a meeting it gets out of hand. The message will not be delivered effectively and your audience will hear an overload of information. Whoever is leading, take charge and keep the meeting moving forward and on time! Keep questions to the end if possible so that you can get your agenda across before going into a potential tangent. If people are bored and don’t get anything out of the meeting, that’s your fault.

Keep everyone in the loop: After the meeting has ended have your note taker(s) send each person a copy with any action items that have been discussed. You should also send a copy to anyone who wasn’t able to make the meeting. Make sure everyone leaves with knowledge of the next step. It’s easy to go back to your desk and forget what just happened. That is why the follow up is the most important factor to ensure your meeting is a success. If you have time, survey your audience to determine if the meeting was effective. For any information on a whiteboard that can’t be saved, take a picture with your cell-phone camera and upload it to www.scanR.com. They’ll clean up the image and turn it into a PDF which you can then forward to your team.

I hope this helps and you’ll be able to nail your next meeting. It shows when you prepare and it will clearly show when you don’t. Make sure you don’t over invite and aren’t wasting someone’s time that will not contribute or gain anything from the discussion. Let me know your thoughts and if there is something I missed please mention it in the comments below.