Tips for organizing more efficient teams meetings

Preparation
Most important! We have all had the experience, at least once, of attending a meeting without preparation. It is a real problem.
Be prepared: make an appointment, invite colleagues, book a room or send the link to the call if it is an online meeting. Share a list of topics to discuss before the meeting, along with any documents to read or materials to prepare. The main aim is to let everyone know why you are at the meeting and what you need to do. Define what the priorities, objectives and deliverables.
Never go into a meeting with the topics in your head, as you may not remember all the necessary issues.
All meetings should start by defining the objectives you want to achieve.
Send out the meeting agenda so that all participants can best prepare and organize themselves.

Set limits, and respect them!
Set a time limit, the number of participants and the topics discussed. Time is money, so don't waste it.
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Give roles to people
No one should be passive during a meeting.
Give everyone roles: present something, take notes to share, set a time
manager, check time allowed per topic, take minutes, among other possible tasks.
Make sure you don't invite anyone who is not necessary for the meeting at hand. Schedules are tight and every minute of our working day is valuable! Only everyone who has an impact on the meeting should be present. Anyone who is not needed at the meeting, but who is important to know about it, should only receive the minutes.
A helpful hint: designate one person to take all the notes of the meeting. That same person should, after the meeting, organize all the information and send it to all participants.
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Establish rules
To limit interference, rules should be established and respected.
The most important is the timing: if the meeting has a certain start and end ,time, respect it. Establish a culture of punctuality. Stipulate not only the start time, but also the duration and the time when it will end.
People should arrive and leave on time. Late comers can be denied access to increase the fluidity of the discussion. This will encourage punctuality from all participants.
You can also restrict devices: try to implement a no phone / texting rule during the meeting.

Take time to finish
The conclusion of the meeting is important: you should keep at least 2-3 min. This conclusion goes far beyond the simple formal closure of the meeting.
A good conclusion includes: a summary of everything that was discussed and the decisions made, the next steps to follow the meeting (sending the summary or minutes to the meeting participants, indicating the tasks and work to be done for the next meeting, assigning roles to the right people, future measurement of the results of a certain action that has been decided, etc.). This also strengthens the team's commitment to the expected results reviewed at the meeting. Do not forget to also allow time for questions.

A meeting is useless if it has no purpose. Above all, take into consideration if a meeting is necessary, or if the issue could be solved with an exchange of emails or a phone call. If a meeting is necessary, follow Fed Finance's tips.
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