Discover the secret to successful meetings! This informative video delves into the neuroscience behind effective agenda design. Learn how to structure your meetings for maximum productivity, engagement, and outcomes. We'll explore proven strategies for crafting clear, concise, and compelling agendas that drive results.
Video Transcript
What about the agenda? There is a popular myth that science now dispels. The presence of an agenda is not the panacea that most business books suggest.
In two of my larger studies, a leaders decision to have an agenda was a very minor predictor of attendees perception of meeting effectiveness. The truth of the matter is that gender does little in terms of improving meetings in and of themselves. That does not mean you should ditch the agenda.
No, you just need to truly think and be intentional when creating the agenda. To be sure, it's highly relevant, strategic, and compelling. Solicit input from others on the agenda items. Think through how to order the agenda items. Starting with the most important items, and consider how you will facilitate discussion around the agenda items. Those are the really important skills.
With that said, I do want to share an innovation and agendas that can promote inclusion and effectiveness as opposed to a set of topics to be discussed which is our current approach.
Try organizing the agenda as a set of questions to be answered. This action causes you, as a meeting leader, to really think about the meeting and what you're hoping to achieve by framing agenda items as questions. You have a better sense of who really has to be invited to the meeting.
The relevant to the questions by framing agenda items as questions. You know when to end the meeting and if the meeting has been successful if the questions have been answered. By framing agenda items as questions, you create an engaging challenge for attendees that draws them in. If you just can't think of any questions, it likely means you don't need a meeting.