A short meeting refers to a brief gathering of individuals to accomplish specific objectives or discuss important topics within a limited timeframe. It is characterized by concise and focused discussions, typically lasting 15-30 minutes, allowing participants to efficiently exchange information, make decisions, and collaborate on key matters without consuming excessive time. Short meetings are often favored in fast-paced work environments to enhance productivity, keep individuals engaged, and minimize disruptions to regular workflow.
What is the purpose of a Short Meeting?
The purpose of running a short meeting as a leader is to ensure effective communication and collaboration among team members. Short meetings help in conveying important information, making quick decisions, and addressing urgent issues. By keeping meetings brief and focused, leaders can save time, increase productivity, and maintain the attention and engagement of the participants.
How To Run A Short Meeting: Step-By-Step
- Step 1: Scheduling
- Step 2: Agenda Setting
- Step 3: Invitation
- Step 4: Preparation
- Step 5: Setting Up
- Step 6: Meeting Start
- Step 7: Discussion
- Step 8: Note-Taking
- Step 9: Action Assigning
- Step 10: Summary
Step 1: Scheduling
The organizer must carefully choose a date and time for the meeting, taking into account the availability of all attendees to ensure maximum participation and engagement in the discussion.
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Step 2: Agenda Setting
In order to ensure a successful and productive meeting, it is crucial to define the purpose and objectives of the meeting. To further enhance the efficiency, a well-structured agenda with concise points of discussion should be drafted and shared with all participants prior to the meeting.
ZipDo, our app, integrates seamlessly with your calendar to consolidate all appointments into a unified collaborative platform. In this space, teams can co-create a shared agenda, allowing every member to contribute their topics. This feature enhances team preparedness and streamlines both meeting preparation and follow-up, leading to more productive meetings.
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Step 3: Invitation
It is important to send out formal invitations to all meeting participants, including the time, date, location (or video link for virtual meetings), and attaching the agenda. This ensures everyone is informed and prepared for the meeting.
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Step 4: Preparation
Before a meeting, organizers and participants should go through the agenda and relevant documents. This ensures that everyone is well-prepared and can actively contribute to the discussion.
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Step 5: Setting Up
To ensure a successful meeting, it is crucial to properly set up the meeting room, whether it is physical or virtual. This includes checking the functionality of projectors, whiteboards, video conferencing tools, and other essential equipment.
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Step 6: Meeting Start
Starting the meeting on time is crucial for optimal productivity. The organizer or leader should open by warmly welcoming everyone and providing a concise overview of the agenda to ensure everyone is aware of the meeting’s objectives and expected outcomes.
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Step 7: Discussion
Make sure to go through each item in the agenda, promoting an inclusive and interactive conversation with all attendees. Emphasize staying on track by focusing on the specific topics outlined, preventing any unnecessary tangents or digressions.
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Step 8: Note-Taking
It is important to assign someone the responsibility of taking minutes during a meeting. This individual should carefully document important discussions, decisions made, and tasks assigned to ensure accurate and comprehensive meeting records.
ZipDo, developed by our team, offers a streamlined approach to meeting organization. It automatically transfers meetings into a collaborative platform where notes can be collectively compiled, simplifying both the prep and the follow-up phases and enhancing team accountability.
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Step 9: Action Assigning
Once decisions are made during the meeting, it is crucial to assign specific tasks and responsibilities to the appropriate individuals in order to ensure successful implementation.
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Step 10: Summary
Before concluding the meeting, it is crucial to provide a concise summary of the main points and outcomes, ensuring clarity and reinforcing the key takeaways for all participants.
With ZipDo, our innovative app, creating and sharing meeting minutes is effortless. Your meetings are automatically imported from your calendar and sorted into channels. Inviting team members to these channels provides them access to meetings. By sharing the minutes in the channel’s workspace, you ensure that every team member stays updated.
Questions to ask as the leader of the meeting
1. What is the purpose of this meeting? – Clarifying the meeting’s objective ensures everyone is on the same page and focused on the intended outcome.
2. What do we need to accomplish? – Identifying specific tasks helps prioritize discussion and actions, ensuring productive use of time.
3. Who needs to be involved? – Determining the necessary participants ensures that all key stakeholders are present to contribute and make informed decisions.
4. Are there any obstacles or challenges we need to address? – Identifying potential roadblocks upfront allows for proactive problem-solving and ensures smooth progress.
5. What progress has been made since the last meeting? – Reviewing accomplishments encourages accountability, highlights areas of success, and showcases individuals’ contributions.
6. What potential solutions do we have? – Encouraging brainstorming and idea generation promotes innovation and creativity within the team.
7. What are the next steps and who is responsible for each? – Ensuring clear action items and assigning responsibilities increases accountability and helps track progress effectively.
8. Are there any additional resources or support needed? – Identifying resource gaps or potential limitations ensures that necessary support is provided to achieve the desired outcomes.
9. How do we measure success? – Determining key performance indicators helps set benchmarks and enables tracking progress towards meeting goals.
10. Does anyone have any additional questions, concerns, or input? – Allowing an open forum for questions and input ensures that every team member has an opportunity to contribute and voice their ideas or concerns.
Learn how to prepare a Short Meeting
To prepare a short meeting agenda as a leader, start by clearly defining the objective of the meeting. Identify the key topics that need to be discussed or decisions that need to be made. Create a concise list of agenda items, prioritizing the most important ones. Keep the meeting focused by setting a realistic time limit for each agenda item. Share the agenda with participants in advance to allow them to come prepared.
How To Prepare For A Short Meeting
Exemplary Agenda Template for a Short Meeting
During a short meeting, it is important to focus on topics that require immediate attention, decision-making, or task-oriented discussions. This includes updates on ongoing projects, addressing any urgent issues or roadblocks, sharing important information or announcements, delegating responsibilities, and setting clear action plans or next steps.
See Our Short Meeting TemplateSoftware tools to facilitate a Short Meeting
Software plays a crucial role in helping leaders efficiently run short meetings. With its intuitive features and streamlined processes, software enables leaders to set agendas, allocate time slots, and track progress. It also facilitates real-time collaboration, documenting meeting minutes, and sending follow-up actions. By eliminating manual tasks and providing a centralized platform, software helps leaders maximize productivity and make the most of their short meeting time.
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- Meeting Management Software: A software that can help you organize your meeting workflow
- Meeting Agenda Software: A software that helps you to collaboratively create meeting agendas
- Meeting Notes Software: Software that allows you to create notes during meetings
- Meeting Minutes Software: A software that helps you preparing meeting minutes for your team.
Conclusion
In conclusion, running a short meeting requires careful planning and effective communication. By following the tips outlined in this blog post, you can ensure your meetings are productive, efficient, and respectful of everyone’s time. Remember to set clear objectives, create an agenda, stick to the time allotted, and engage all participants. Short meetings can be just as impactful as longer ones, if not more so. So, put these strategies into practice and watch your meetings become a valuable tool for driving your business forward.
Jannik Lindner
I'm Jannik and I write on MeetingFever about the experiences from my career as a founder and team lead.
If you have any questions, please contact me via LinkedIn.
Popular Questions
What is a short meeting?What is the purpose of a short meeting?What should I prepare for a short meeting?How can I make a short meeting effective?Can I expect any decisions from a short meeting?
A short meeting is a brief, focused gathering usually between 15-30 minutes, where key issues, tasks, or decisions are discussed and addressed. These meetings typically have a specific focus and are designed to convey information quickly and efficiently.
The purpose of a short meeting is to address a specific topic or small set of issues in a concise manner. Short meetings are more time-efficient than full-length ones, focusing on immediate actions or decisions, without wanting to engage in lengthy discussions.
For a short meeting, prepare a clear agenda, including the main topic(s) to be discussed, the goal of the meeting, and the attendees. Ensuring you come prepared with all necessary materials and points you want to discuss will also make it efficient.
To make a short meeting effective, set a clear purpose and agenda, stick to a strict timeline, engage all participants, stay on topic, be prepared, and conclude with clear action steps, decisions made, or tasks assigned.
Yes, it is not uncommon to expect decisions from a short meeting. The meeting should be designed to facilitate decision-making by providing necessary information and encouraging swift discussion. It’s essential to recap and record these decisions after the meeting for reference and follow-ups.
