Have you ever taken the time to calculate how much of your life is spent in meetings? These tips will help maximize the productivity of your team, potentially increasing donor funding.
From routine, weekly staff meetings to company-wide department updates, employees and volunteers spend a great deal of time listening instead of doing. In an article on nonprofitpro.com, the author takes a look at how staff meetings and other similar updates impact the schedules of staff. She offers several recommendations for improving meetings by being more focused and deliberate.
First, determine if a meeting is really necessary, or if the information could be disseminated in another way.
Create an agenda and circulate it with backup material as early as possible so that everyone involved is up to speed. And stick to that agenda.
Respect everyone’s time by keeping the meeting focused, and by assigning a timekeeper to keep it on track.
Assign projects and outline next steps so that participants know their responsibilities and deadlines.
Keep it short and sweet. TED talks use an effective presentation model of 18 minutes. Two others, IGNITE and Pecha Kucha, share the philosophy that seven minute presentations keep your audience engaged.