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Keeping Your Meetings Productive Will Keep Your Employees Productive Too!

Posted on November 21st, 2016 Read time: 2 minutes

Employees typically dread meetings, especially when they last a long time and leave attendees wondering what they were supposed to have learned. Here are some tips on making your meetings more productive, so your employees learn and apply more information from them.


Set an Agenda

Having an agenda means everyone understands the purpose and importance of the meeting. Having a defined mission and desired results helps attendees start with the end point in mind and work backward to determine what steps need to be taken to achieve the expected outcomes.

Have Attendees Stand Up

 Rather than having employees nodding off in their chairs, have everyone stand up for the entire meeting. People tend to increase the pace of their speaking when others are standing around waiting for them to conclude their talk. Speakers will stay on-topic more and finish in less time, so attendees may more quickly apply what they learned when the meeting adjourns.

Take Notes

Ensure attendees take notes on the information being presented. Remind employees to review their notes and reinforce their learning so they retain their knowledge longer. Everyone will stay informed on the issues being discussed so you can move forward as a team in reaching company goals.

Use One PowerPoint Slide

When updating employees on company issues, allow each speaker to use only one PowerPoint slide. Ensure the font is 14-point or higher so minimal information is included and can be read from the back of the room. Presentations will be more to-the-point and cover broader content, rather than digging into every detail.

Give General Information Only

Speakers should state their overall goals without being too exact on steps to reaching their objectives. Let attendees be creative in finding answers to meeting those goals. Attendees’ answers will vary depending on their competence and experience levels, but everyone should contribute to meeting those objectives.

 Create Goals

Discuss what’s expected of each attendee so they contribute to reaching company goals laid out during the meeting. Ensure each worker’s role is clearly defined and questions are answered.

Determine Decision Dates

 Decide which days and times specific tasks must be carried out by to reach the intended outcomes. Determine the who, what, where, when, and why for each task, along with the employee to contact if there are questions.


Although meetings are a necessary part of running a business, they don’t have to take up hours each day. To make even better use of your time, get in touch with the experts at Innovative Employee Solutions today!

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