Plan Effective Staff Meetings That are Informative and Inspirational

Learning how to organize and execute an effective meeting is a skill that is often overlooked by executives and managers. The end result being a large group of employees who walk away from the meeting without taking in any of the important points. A company meeting should be more than just an exchange of information, it should be used as an opportunity to inspire and motivate your employees to perform at a higher level.

Whether a general staff meeting, problem solving meeting or company goal meeting there is a basic outline a leader should be following to make it as much of a success as possible:

Who Is Invited?

Just like a party, you want to make sure that the right group or groups of employees are asked to participate.

• It might seem obvious, but many company meetings are unproductive due to the right groups of people not being asked to participate. Give a lot of thought to what the goal of the meeting is and exactly who will be affected by it. It is better to have employees there who might not need to be, then to miss out on the chance to relay information to a group that needs it the most.

Sending Invitations

The tone you set with the announcement of your meeting will carry over into the meeting itself.

• As soon as you have settled on who needs to attend your meeting, send out an announcement. The most effective way to do this is with DialMyCalls’ staff notification service. Choose the groups from your stored contacts data base and then record a simple message letting them know about the upcoming event.
• Use your own voice on your recording and make sure that as you talk about the meeting you are upbeat and positive. Your excited tone of voice will relay over well and get your employees interested in what you have to say.
• Don’t bore them with agendas at this time. The first call should be basic information only. Where, when and what time followed by an enthusiastic “I look forward to seeing you there!” should suffice.
• Two days before the meeting send a text message reminder. Again relay excitement but also be more specific about what will be discussed and what, if anything, the employees should bring with them. If there are different needs for different groups you can personalize the text messages by managing your contact lists.

Getting Your Meeting Started

Make sure that you are well rested and well presented for your meeting. This invokes a feeling that you care about the information you are about to relay to your employees.

• Always start on time. It is very disrespectful to those who arrive promptly if you make them wait for those who didn’t.
• Give a warm welcome and thank everyone for coming.
• Give a brief review of the agenda and hand out any pertinent paperwork at the beginning. This will save time during the meeting.

Keep an Eye on Your Watch

Just like you had a set time to start your meeting, you should have a planned completion time.

• A manager who allows a meeting to run too long is going to lose his employees interest, no matter how captivating he or the subject matter is. If the circumstances call for a unusually long meeting be sure that you have planned break times at opportune moments.
• To keep the meeting from running over time, keep focus and maintain your momentum. If you feel like the main goal of the meeting has gotten off track quickly redirect the conversation back to your purpose.

A Strong Close

You should always end a meeting on a high note.

• Sincerely thank everyone for attending and participating.
• Ask one last time if there are any questions or concerns.
• Use the last couple of minutes to point out any individuals or groups whose work has recently stood out as superior. Saving this for the end will make a lasting impression and serve to motivate those not mentioned to try better for next time.

The most engaging leaders are those who show a true passion in what they do and want to share that passion with others. When you have a message that needs to be relayed to a large number of your employees, let that enthusiasm show from the very beginning.