Define Your Meeting ‘Type’ Beforehand To Make Sure They’re Productive

Define Your Meeting ‘Type’ Beforehand To Make Sure They’re Productive

Whether you host or just have to attend regular meetings, you can make them more efficient by clarifying the type of meeting it is. You’ll get everyone on the same page, your meeting will be more productive and you’ll spend the time talking about what’s important.

Image from Yohann Legrand.

Besides getting everyone the same page, remembering the meeting type makes sure the conversation stays on track. Here are the three major meeting types, and what each is best suited to:

  • Decision Making: By the end of the meeting, you want the group to have made a decision on a certain topic. For example, whether to hire a candidate, accept a proposal or establish a new process.
  • Information Sharing: The purpose is for the host or attendees to share new or key information with each other, like a project status update, scheduled events for the next week or what everyone is working on.
  • Brainstorming: A working session to come up with ideas or solutions, like ways to approach a new topic or business area, potential solutions to a tricky problem or new areas to take the business.

Include the meeting goal and type in the meeting invite or an email to attendees ahead of time, and then kick off the meeting by clearly laying out what the goal is. For more ways to make sure your meetings are actually productive and useful to everyone involved, check out our full guide here.

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