For many decades, business meetings were seen as almost compulsory. A way of getting the team in one room and focusing on past performance and planning for future endeavors. Yet, in the twenty-first century, with so many people working differently and with a necessity to justify time as money, do meetings still have pride of place in your business?

Can you Justify Your Business Meeting?

The media image of a business meeting is a long drawn out few hours session whereby a projector is wheeled out, coffee and biscuits are dealt out and minutes are taken as bored staff members sit around and secretly doodle behind pads!

Cut to the real world of business, and for many years, this image hasn’t been too far from the reality. The truth is, not many of us have a long attention span and when we are made to sit in a meeting for an extended length of time, our concentration levels dip very quickly meaning that this time is not an efficient use of time neither is it a cost-effective exercise.

Why Business Meetings Can Be Valuable When Used Correctly

Have a cast iron agenda before you call your meeting: There is nothing worse than attending a meeting for a variety of points on the list which could have been resolved more efficiently by individual members at another time. A meeting should not be to trawl back over the events of the last few weeks, it should be focused on building a quick response towards the next stage of business.

What do you need to achieve by the end of the meeting? If you cant think of one cast iron answer to this, then maybe now isn’t the time to call that meeting. A meeting should bring people together to discuss and plan an idea and end with a solution as to what steps need to be deployed as each staff member walks away from the meeting room.