5 Tips for Running an Awesome Meeting

We've all been to a bad meeting at least once in our business careers. Most of us have been to too many!

Bad meetings can damage team morale, lead to feelings of frustration or simply waste time. Ineffective meetings can be the result of various factors: lack of organization, bad time management, too many participants or undefined roles.

Attending a bad meeting is one thing, but running one can feel like even more of a failure. So, how can you make sure your next meeting is a success? Preparing well is critical to a successful meeting and tells your employees that you take the meeting seriously and want everyone to get the most out of it. The following pointers can help you feel more confident when you walk into your next meeting. -- Make sure you actually need a meeting. This seems obvious, but how many times have you thought, 'Do we really need to meet on this?'

Having a meeting when you don't really need one is the No. 1 way to frustrate your employees. As you plan your meeting, ask yourself if all the talking points are really meeting material or if they could be handled with a few emails or phone calls -- or even a short conference call. Your employees will love you more if you only call meetings when you really need to, for things that affect everyone.

Action tip: Analyze your former meetings and the subjects discussed and determine if all the talking points were necessary to cover in a meeting. Decide how you can change your meeting planning to only cover subjects that require everyone's input or that affect an entire department. -- Plan a small agenda. If you plan every minute of your agenda, you will always run over. Plan on answering questions, responding to concerns and asking for input. To allow time for this, plan out talking points that will account for around half of your meeting time. The rest of the time will be filled once your employees start talking.

Action tip: Once you have your agenda planned, prioritize the talking points. Take your bottom two talking points and mark them as "maybe" topics. This will allow you to spend time on the topics that are really important and get to the less important ones if time permits. Otherwise, keep them on your list for your next meeting. -- Make sure your objective is clear. Not having a clear objective is another easy way to frustrate employees. They are attending a meeting, but the purpose of the meeting isn't made clear. Email your talking points beforehand, so your employees have time to prepare. If anything else has come up that you feel you need to address in the meeting, save it for last.

Action tip: Make sure that the purpose of the meeting is addressed in the title of the meeting or in a brief summary statement explaining why there will be a meeting. Make sure to repeat the summary of the meeting in the meeting itself and then stick to the topics in the email. -- Start and end on time. Starting late will automatically set the stage for possible problems. If employees see that you don't start on time, they will not see the need to arrive on time to the meeting.

The same is true with ending late. If your meeting bleeds into something else they have set up, they can become frustrated. If it's important, and they leave early, they'll disrupt everyone else and the flow of conversation. Both of these could snowball into a bigger problem: Your employees could start to lose respect for someone who can't keep the agenda under control.

Action tip: Always be in the meeting location 15 minutes early, especially if you are using technology for the meeting. This will give you time to set up and make sure everything is in order. Even if it's only a 10-minute meeting, being there 15 to 20 minutes in advance sends a clear message that your employees should be there.

Try a reward system for employees who come early. This could be donuts, coffee or a "free" extra 15-minute break for the first five employees who enter the room. Something that will blend in with your corporate culture but also encourage meeting attendance. -- Remember that you are the cruise director. Don't let someone else take over your meeting. While it is important to have a comments section so that your employees feel that their input is important, don't let anyone talk over you. As the meeting director, you need to keep control of the floor. If you find that there is an employee who starts to monopolize conversation, kindly but firmly let them know that you could discuss it with him further after the meeting.

Action tip: Try something like, "It's obvious that this is an important topic for you. We need to move along right now, but see me afterwards to set up a follow-up meeting with you." Or you could say, "I appreciate that you are so passionate about this issue. Why don't I stop by your office later this afternoon to continue discussing?" These kinds of responses let your employees know that you care about them, but that you are still in control.

Hallie Crawford is a certified career coach, speaker and author from Atlanta whose coaching company, HallieCrawford.com, helps people identify their ideal career path, navigate their career transition and nurture their careers. Her team of coaches works with people of all ages, has clients worldwide and has helped thousands of people achieve their career goals. She is also regularly featured as a career expert in the media, including CNN, Fox Business News, The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger and Forbes.com.