Make Meetings with Your Team More Dynamic and Diverse

It’s no secret that every employee dreads those 8 AM Monday morning meetings with a passion; 5 PM Friday afternoon meetings are also one of the worst kinds of get-togethers you can have in the workplace. As a business owner or manager, you believe that meetings are a vital element of your working day.

Meetings are an ideal time to communicate any issues and share creative ideas. Whether you’re trying to host a productive training day or hold an engaging meeting, there are many reasons to up your meeting game and make them more dynamic and diverse for your employees. No more bored yawns or lame excuses for being absent; your employees will look forward to the next work meetings.

Upgrade Your Presentation Software

If you think back to the days when you were at college, you would despise those PowerPoint presentations that were wordy, ugly and too complex to understand. If you need to make a presentation for your employees, then make sure it is worthwhile, informative and attractive, otherwise, their attention span will quickly begin to fade. Look into brand new presentation software. You will be able to instantly visualize your ideas with ready-to-use, customizable smart templates. Just think of an idea, choose a template, and get to work. This will finally be a presentation that captivates your audience and make for a more productive meeting in the workplace.

Shake Up Your Time and Location

This is something that many managers don’t even give a second thought; you would usually pick the same old meeting room in your office building that needs a major refurbishment, but what is stopping you from changing the atmosphere at little? The place in which you choose to hold the meeting can have a huge impact on what is achieved. If people walk into the room already feeling uninspired, then it is unlikely to be a fruitful time. Meet in a local coffee shop or collaboration zone and treat your workers to a creamy latte to start the day. Morning meetings are often much more productive than those later in the day, but try to steer clear from Monday mornings as they already have enough negativity surrounding them as it is!

Consider the Level of Formality

As the person who is holding the meeting, you will set the tone and formality of the setup. If you really want to achieve an informal setting, then you need to make sure you use conversational language that provokes questions from other people. Your workers will mimic your vibe and tone for the meeting, so think carefully about this before you start writing down pages and pages of formal notes.

Welcome Questions and Interaction

One of the best things about meetings is that people actually have the chance to talk to each other and interact. This is one of the only ways that decisions can be made and ideas can be discussed. If you spend an entire meeting talking, you aren’t going to have much time for questions and discussions about the hot topics you have mentioned. Leave plenty of time for interaction and your meetings will be much more productive.

Keep Them Short and Sweet

It is a fact that long meetings can cause people to lose focus and disengage with the matters being discussed. Try to hold shorter meetings, which are proven to be much more productive. If you are able to cover a handful of key points in detail, this will help the information to go into everybody’s heads. The longer the meeting and the more you try and cram in, the less productive it is going to be overall.

Is That Meeting Necessary?

Finally, you need to ask yourself whether a full meeting is always necessary. Sometimes a few points can be communicated by email or a simple phone call, so think about whether it is worth getting everybody together or not. Meetings are fundamental parts of many businesses, but you shouldn’t feel forced into holding regular meetings if they aren’t necessary for your company requirements.

There is a fine line between a productive work meeting and one that is overwhelming for your employees. As long as you consider the agenda carefully, choose a good location and pick the right time of day, you will be able to produce quick and dynamic work meetings that bring you the results you’re looking for. Try out some of the techniques mentioned above and you will soon be able to hold meetings that are full of happy and motivated workers.