Joseph A. Allen - Running Effective Meetings For Dummies

Running Effective Meetings For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

Includes text used with permission from Suddenly Virtual: Making Remote Meetings Work (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2021) and Suddenly Hybrid: Managing the Modern Meeting (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2022), authored by Joseph A. Allen and Karin M. Reed.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022943107

ISBN: 978-1-119-87570-3 (pbk); ISBN: 978-1-119-87571-0 (epdf); ISBN: 978-1-119-87572-7 (epub)

Yay! Another meeting!

We would bet big money that these words have never been said, except perhaps by Joe who has been studying meetings for decades. In fact, meetings have been maligned from practically the dawn of meetings themselves. But meetings, on their own, arent bad. We would suggest its the meeting leaders who are bad at running them (and the meeting attendees who are bad at contributing within them) and thats why we are thrilled you are reading this book.

Whether youve never run a meeting before in your career or curse the hours youve spent running what youd objectively consider rotten meetings, think of this book as your ultimate guide. You will discover all you need to know about running an effective meeting, one where you actually get stuff done, move business forward, and perhaps even have fun along the way.

But even if you dont run many meetings, youll still find value in giving this book a read. There are nuggets of insight throughout the book on how you can be a better meeting attendee and support your meeting leaders in their efforts to make their sessions worthwhile. Heck, you might even find yourself coaching up your supervisor or boss on better meeting management. That would make our day and likely your future in meetings just a little bit brighter!

If you are a manager, much of your workday will be devoted to meetings. Some you will lead and some you may just attend. We focus in this book on the former. Weve loosely organized the book in sequential order, sharing best practices for what to do before, during, and after a meeting.

Some of what we include may not be news to you. In fact, many meeting best practices are common sense but uncommonly practiced. Even if you read something that seems elementary to you, pause to put it into context. You may know that starting on time is a good idea, but do you really hold yourself to that standard? Everything included in this book is designed to build a strong foundation for a meeting that is both productive and satisfying for all involved.

To make the content more accessible, weve divided it into five parts:

• : Understanding the Role of Meetings in Business. This is a great place to start to get a solid overview of how meetings are incorporated and conducted across the corporate landscape. We also include some specific considerations related to video use and global participants.
• : Setting Up for Success What to do Before a Meeting. How effective your meeting will be is often dictated before you even enter the meeting room, whether its a physical or virtual one. In this part, we talk about the critical steps you should take prior to your meeting.
• : Facilitating an Effective Meeting What to do During a Meeting. Its showtime! This part is devoted to ensuring you orchestrate a meeting that accomplishes its goal. We focus primarily on promoting full participation and tamping down bad meeting behavior while spending some time on best practices in delivering presentations within a meeting.
• : Making a Meeting Worthwhile What to do After a Meeting. Dont let all of your hard work be for naught. What you do once the official meeting adjourns is just as important as what you do prior to and during your session. In this part, we lay out the actions you need to take once everyone has left the meeting room.