If you own, work in, or with a business that has more than two or three employees you will hold meetings. This is a fact of life. Just like death and taxes.

However, unlike death and taxes, meetings are not out of your control. You can pretty much define the nature of your meeting, the way it is run, and who attends.

But few of us do this. Instead we just arrange a meeting and wait for people to show up. This is why meetings are often on those ‘top ten fears lists’ (usually closely behind death and lunch with the taxman) that you see now and then. No one likes them. They hurt.

There are some things you can do to make your meetings more productive and valuable. We are not talking about dressing up as a chicken and playing team games (we’ll save those for corporate retreats). Instead, we are talking about you, holding a meeting with your team and/or clients, and making it rock.

How? Well, we’ll start with basic stuff, and then go onto more radical ideas that may test your comfort zone. The ideas are all tried and tested, and they make happier meetings. Combine all five, and you’ll probably never hate meetings again…

Start on time

Not difficult, this one. Start your meeting late and it just makes everyone feel depressed.

Clients, especially, will appreciate you getting this bit right. Do it wrong, and your attendees will think you don’t value their time.

And then your meeting will move up one place on that list we talked about, just above ‘ten minutes with the dentist’.

Keep to timings

Assuming you’ve started on time, keep your eye on the clock. Everyone has the agenda (right?) so no one will be surprised if they are asked to stop speaking so you can get to the next bit.

Again, it’s a time value thing.

Keep to agendas

Most people hate meetings because they feel nothing gets done. If you have an agenda that is important, stick to it. If the meeting wanders, it is hard to argue that your meeting is anything other than an unstructured chat. Fuzziness leads to nothing being achieved, which kills authority.

No chairs

Told you we’d get radical. Research states that meetings held standing up means decisions being made in 34% less time. That’s a win-win for everyone.

Voluntary attendance

And this one is for the hard core, the leaders who want to make a real difference.

Tell your team that attendance to the meeting is voluntary.

This really works.

Think about it. If business about your company is being discussed, the team will need to know.

Ask the team to volunteer items for the agenda, and tell them they can come if they want.

What do you think will happen?

Exactly. If people have created the agenda items themselves, they will want to turn up. Do this enough times and you have a company that wants to meet and has things to say. This works exceptionally well with the smaller business model, where teams can still grow.

Go forth, and meet

So try all of these ideas, or just one. They all work, some more immediately than others. But try them soon, because the business world needs rescuing from the curse of the boring and pointless meeting.

This is a guest post by Sahail Ashraf of The Smart Homeworker.

Free updates:
If you enjoyed this post and would like to be kept updated on future posts, then please click here to get updates by Email. Alternately you can follow the updates the Business Opportunities And Ideas Facebook page or follow me on Twitter.