Greetings!
Last week we finished our tour of possible meeting objectives for why you are planning a meeting in the first place. While the specific objective will inform much of the meeting planning, there are other factors to consider as well for planning, like the who, what, when, how, and how long:
- How long should the meeting be and when should it occur?
- Where and how should the meeting be held?
- Who needs to attend and how many people need to be there?
- What are the expectations for attendees?
Meeting length
Here are some key things to keep in mind when planning how much time you need for a meeting:
- Not all meetings need to be a full hour. Others may need extra time for discussion. Consider your objectives and how many items are on your agenda. Can you accomplish all agenda items in the time you have?
- It may be better to end a meeting early, giving attendees some time back, than to go over time or run out of time for all agenda items.
Keep these key considerations in mind in deciding how much time you need for a meeting as well as when you should have the meeting:
- Remember that as the meeting leader, you'll need to schedule time for yourself to get the meeting set up, especially for large meetings. Allow time to test audio, content sharing, and assigning presenter rights to those who will need them.
- Allow time between agenda items for questions as well as pauses for the next speaker to be ready.
- Make sure you and the attendees have time to wrap up the meeting comfortably and allow some time for everyone to get to other meetings. Otherwise, you may not have time for a quick recap.
Recurring Meetings
For recurring meetings, sometimes we fall in the habit of just saving items for a weekly or quarterly gathering. However, consider these other questions for planning when to hold meetings:
- Allow flexibility for ad-hoc meetings as issues come up with a close deadline.
- Email or Yammer discussions can fill in for necessary communication between recurring meeting times.
- Consider the timing of the meeting if it is tied to sensitive information. It may be better to call a meeting earlier if information has already been shared with some staff but not all. This prevents inaccurate information or gossip from spreading.
- And, of course, consider the time zones of all attendees for meeting times.
Meeting venue
Where should the meeting take place? The answer is: Online!
With remote and on-site employees attending most meetings, hybrid meetings with some people in a conference room together and others on their computers just don't work well for full engagement.
The following communication platforms are strongly recommended:
- Chat: Skype
- Audio (phone): Skype
- Audio & Video (phone and webcam): Skype
- Internal training/presentations: Skype, Gototraining, or Adobe Connect depending on need
See the more information about technology platforms. In fact, we'll be talking more about technology platforms in the coming weeks!
Attendees
Who needs to attend the meeting? This might seem like a simple question but there are times people are either left out of meetings where they need to be included or times when people get invited to meetings they don't need to be in.
- Make sure to double-check your email distribution lists for new hires, inaccuracies, and completeness.
- Does the regular meeting leader even need to always be present? Would it be better for brainstorming sessions if group members met without their leader to gather ideas and report back?
- Resist the trap of inviting everyone when it's not necessary. This can especially be an issue as employees' roles change.
See more considerations when planning who should be in a meeting!
Expectations for attendees
When you're planning a meeting, keep in mind what you expect from your attendees. Attendee expectations may drive how you use a certain platform. For instance:
- Do they need information ahead of time or will you share documents during the meeting?
- Do participants need editing rights to something the group will work on together?
- Do they need to be able to use chat or see a screen share?
See more tips on helping attendees meet expectations through your planning.
After you've figured out the why of your meeting objectives, remember the who, what, when, how, and how long to fully flesh out the meeting plan.
Next week we'll share a recap of our topics covered so far in the Making Meetings Matter series. Questions? Comments! Please feel free to reach out to us!
Anne, Lisa, Amber, and Erin
Remote Experience Working Group
How long should the meeting be?
When planning a meeting, it is important to be realistic about how much can reasonably be accomplished. It is better to leave early than to run late or not cover everything in the agenda. Think through how much time you will need for the various components of the meeting, and plan accordingly.
Some points to consider:
- Is it always necessary to have a one-hour meeting? If you just need to touch base with folks, or if the agenda is small, consider a 30-minute meeting. Or go crazy and schedule a 15-minute meeting.
- If you find it is difficult to start on time due to back-to-back meetings, technology set-up, or problems getting into the meeting room, consider scheduling the meeting to start at 15 minutes after the hour. This gives you time to set up before everyone arrives.
Have you allowed time for the common meeting components listed here? Some of these components aren't necessary for small meetings; most are highly recommended for large meetings (more than 10 people).
Before the meeting
If possible, allow time before the meeting to set-up and test the meeting space. Setting up and testing the space is absolutely necessary with very large meetings (more than 20 attendees).
Set up and testing includes:
- opening the meeting space
- configuring the meeting attendee chat, audio, video settings
- sharing the meeting content
- testing audio/video/content-sharing with speakers
- assigning presenter rights
During the meeting
These ideas are important in meetings with more than 10 participants, but they may also impact the time of smaller meetings as well.
- settling the attendees
- introducing the meeting host and the participants
- housekeeping information (e.g., how to chat, who to ask for help during the meeting)
- reviewing the agenda
Once the meeting gets going be sure to:
- allow time to introduce and transition between speakers
- allow time to switch between content types (e.g., slides, screen-sharing)
- allow time for questions, including time for the chat monitor to raise questions from the chat
5 minutes before the end of the meeting, allow time to wrap things up by:
- reviewing action items
- reviewing when and where notes or recordings and follow-up questions will be sent
- saying your goodbyes
- conducting a graceful sign-off (e.g., time for audience to say goodbye in the chat, etc.)
Meeting platform recommendations
To generate consistency across the Center and reduce meeting attendee frustration, the following communication platforms for internal meetings are strongly recommended:
Chat: Skype
Audio (phone): Skype
Audio & Video (phone and webcam): Skype
Internal training/presentations: Skype, Gototraining, or Adobe Connect depending on need
Hybrid meetings (a mix of on-site and off-site attendees) are discouraged, especially if there are more than 5 attendees. It is challenging to balance the needs of both groups while supporting equal engagement.
Remember these recommendations are for internal meetings, not for student or faculty webinars or other presentations. When meeting or presenting to non-CSS staff, faculty, or students, use whatever platform supports your needs.
CSS Graduate Assistants:
To communicate with grad assistants in the same way as with staff, it is recommended that all GAs create Skype accounts with their Walden staff email address (not their student email address). This allows them to use Skype IM and attend Skype meetings as any other staff.
Attendee engagement
It is important to think about how you want your attendees to engage with you, each other, and information shared in the meeting. By considering these things ahead of the meeting, you can be prepared for any needed technologies.
Here are some things to consider about the various collaborative tools available to us:
Chat:
- Do you need chat? Chat can be an effective communication tool, even in small groups. If nothing else, it provides a place to share links and information on the fly.
- Do you need someone else to monitor the chat? If there are a large number of attendees, someone may need to watch the chat for you. This allows you to focus on the material you need to cover.
- Does the chat conversation need to stay on topic? In some meetings, it is OK for the chat conversation to range far and wide; side conversations in chat can be useful. Other times, the chat needs to stay focused and on topic, especially when the group is working with complex topics.
PowerPoint and files:
- Are you using a PowerPoint? Do you want the attendees to browse the slides on their own or do you want to control what they see—to keep the discussion on point, for example. Do you want the attendees to be able to download the slides immediately?
- Do you want to upload other documents to the meeting space?
- Do you want to provide documents through a shared resource such as One Drive or SharePoint?
- Do attendees need edit permissions to shared documents?
Screen sharing:
- Do you need to share your screen with the attendees?
- Do you need others to share their screens, or rotate screen sharing between attendees?
Collaborative tools:
- Do you need brainstorming tools such as whiteboards?
- Do you need polls?
Who needs to be at the meeting
The Office of Academic Support has experienced a lot of change in staff roles and the size of leadership teams over the last few years, and in many ways we are still trying to figure out how to work both within departments and as a Center. In the past, it was possible for all interested parties to participate in every decision, or to invite entire teams to every meeting that touched their area. Inviting everyone to a meeting was an easy way to make sure everyone had a voice, but it wasn't always effective. Now it is even more difficult to have effective meetings when everyone is invited all the time. If only to avoid "all the meetings all the time" we need to move away from the culture of meetings as the primary communication device among teams, departments, and the Center.
Here are some suggestions for making meetings more effective by inviting only those who need to be there.
- Consider what kind of input is needed in a meeting, and find the best way to solicit that. If you need input from a large group of people, a survey or discussion in Yammer may be a better way to get the initial input. Then a small group can make decisions based on the feedback and follow-up conversations. The final decision, and the reasons behind it, can then be reported back to the larger group.
- When looking for feedback, people often work better if they have something to respond to. Consider asking one or two people to come up with an initial project, policy, or concept, and then provide it to the larger group for feedback. Make sure you provide guidance on how to give and receive constructive feedback.
- Empower small groups to tackle a project, problem or policy and see it through to completion. The group can report back to their manager or a working group for feedback, guidance, and approvals.