Meeting Management: A Complete Guide for Having Better Meetings in 2021

Most people want to have productive meetings, however, many people fail to execute the steps involved in the meeting management process. Having a productive meeting takes time to prepare, schedule, communicate with team members, and record the meeting. More importantly, meetings need to be managed to be productive.

Meeting management is more important than ever, especially considering the number of remote meetings that occur in 2021.

Whether it’s a marketing meeting, brainstorming meeting, or daily standup, hands-on meeting management will help accomplish what is needed. In this guide, you will learn what meeting management is, the 10 steps involved in the meeting management process. 

What is Meeting Management and Why is it Important?

So, what is meeting management? It’s the process of coordinating a meeting and managing the members of the team to get the results needed in the amount of time allotted. 

Meeting management is important for having more productive meetings. It helps manage everyone’s time in an efficient manner while accomplishing team goals. When meetings lack management, they can affect your bottom line, wasting time and money.

10 Steps to Meeting Management Process

Having an efficient meeting is takes a team effort. For those hoping to have productive meetings, there are 10 steps that take place. These steps are great for everyone on the team to know, and plan for when attending a meeting.

  1. Plan the Agenda
  2. Define the Purpose of the Meeting
  3. Determine Attendees
  4. Define Roles & Responsibilities
  5. Schedule the Meeting Invite
  6. Document the Meeting
  7. Transcribe Notes into Meeting Minutes
  8. Send Meeting Minutes
  9. Archive Meeting Minutes
  10. Schedule Follow-Up Meetings

To learn more about the steps involved in the meeting management process, read each step more in-depth below:

Step 1: Plan the Meeting Agenda

This is the starting point for any meeting. For meeting leaders, planning an agenda falls under your responsibility. When leading a meeting, it is your responsibility to plan the agenda. The meeting agenda will include the following:

  1. Purpose of the meeting
  2. Attendees
  3. Roles
  4. Time and Place

Step 2: Define the Purpose of the Meeting

For all meeting members, the purpose should of the meeting in the agenda. For all attendees, clearly stating the purpose of the meeting for everyone is an important step to planning an effective meeting. Once the purpose is clear, communicate it to those involved, and plan meeting strategies that support the thoughtful involvement of those attending.

More importantly, if there are multiple topics that need to be discussed, it is recommended to mention each topic and schedule time during the meeting specifically to cover each topic.

Step 3: Determine Attendees

Who needs to be at the meeting and who does not need to be there? When planning your meeting invite and agenda, it’s best to limit the number of people to only the members who absolutely need to be there. Keep in mind, meeting minutes exist to update those that need to know meeting results but don’t necessarily need to be involved.

Step 4: Define Roles & Responsibilities

After narrowing down the team members that need to attend, it’s time to define your roles. There are meeting leaders, facilitators, decision-makers, and note-takers that all have separate roles to contribute to having an effective meeting.

Also, it’s important to note if updates needed from team members for the meeting. These updates should be listed on the agenda for those members to see. That way, each attendee knows what’s expected of them, and there’s little confusion on what each individual needs to do or bring.

Step 5: Schedule the Meeting Invite

You’re finally ready to send an invite to your team. Create a meeting invite, include your detailed agenda, and schedule the meeting for a date and time that accommodates everyone’s schedule. Here are a few considerations around scheduling a meeting.

Meeting Length

An important aspect to remember is the length of the meeting. Based on the purpose of the meeting, and the topics to discuss, you’ll have an idea of how long the meeting will take.

Location

Be sure to include the location of the meeting. For instance, if it’s a specific room in your office, include that information in the invite.

If you’re traveling to another place outside of your office, be sure to include the address, directions, and parking information. You may even want to include and schedule time on people’s calendars for necessary travel time. 

Alternatively, if the meeting is virtual, add the link to the meeting room, and other information needed, like a password, if required.

Step 6: Document the Meeting

Once everyone is in the same room (whether virtual or in-office), and discussion has begun, the notetaker will start documenting the meeting. Throughout the meeting, the note-taker will document the meeting and the decisions that result. They will either take written notes as these important decisions and updates occur, or use a meeting recording software to listen to and reference when forming meeting minutes.

Step 7: Transcribe Notes into Meeting Minutes

Once the meeting ends, note-takers will rely on their notes of the meeting, and transcribe them into minutes. Meeting minutes serve as a record of what was discussed and decided from the meeting. In addition to the decisions of the meeting, the meeting minutes clearly define the actions that must be taken, the member responsible for each decision, and the expected due date for each.

Step 8: Send Out Meeting Minutes

Once these meeting minutes are formatted, it’s time to send out your minutes, with action items included. Meeting minutes will serve as a summary of decisions and action items the meeting results for those that missed the meeting. For action items included, be sure to include the team member responsible for the task, and due date.

In addition, be sure to provide links or attachments to any presentations or files that were used during the meeting.

Step 9: Archive the Meeting Minutes 

After everyone has seen the meeting minutes, the next step is to archive the meeting minutes in a shared drive. By archiving minutes, you can reference meeting notes at any given time. Make sure the minutes are stored in a place where everyone can access them. In addition, be sure to store away presentations and other relevant files.

Step 10: Schedule Follow-up Meetings

Take a look at the next steps and be sure to check whether follow-up meetings need to be scheduled. Wil three need to be multiple meetings scheduled for each follow-up action item? This will depend on each action item and the next step. For instance, if an action item calls for time for the task owner and other members to review a document, a meeting should be scheduled at the appropriate date that was agreed on in the meeting minutes.

Meeting Management is Easier Than You Think

Having better meetings in 2021 is a skill that is attainable for business teams, as long as they follow the steps listed above. It may look like a lot of steps at first, but the more meeting you have, the easier this gets. Like anything, meetings take practice, and you’re not going to get it completely right the first time. But, if you work at it as a team, you’ll find that you’ll have meetings that accomplish what you need and provide everyone with a sense of direction.

yoyomeeting Helps Streamline The Meeting Management Process

Powerful tools like yoyomeeting can help with the meeting management process. With yoyomeeting, you can streamline the process, from meeting preparation and planning to meeting recording and documentation. Learn more about our meeting management software, and sign up for our free 2-week trial.

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