Meetings are necessary for teams to stay on track, but people dread pointless ones. Here are a few ways to spice up meetings and get everyone excited to attend.
Keep it fun: Want to encourage change and creativity and brighten employees’ moods? Have a wacky t-shirt, favorite hat or ugly sweater day when you have an in-house meeting. Toss a foam football around and, other than the meeting leader, only let the person holding the ball talk. Pass out small snacks (cookies, candy or granola bars) to keep everyone’s energy level up. These activates promote a fun and creative work environment, with the added benefit of letting team members get to know one another.
Short, sweet and to the point: Once you make your point, move on to the next one. Before the meeting, write out the goals you want to accomplish. Use an agenda to keep everyone on topic. If time management has you beat, use an hour glass. Don’t let side conversations take over and keep words appropriate. If another meeting is needed, schedule it immediately.
Be adventurous: Heading outside will rejuvenate and inspire your team. Hold meetings in different rooms, the change will avoid boredom. Have everyone remain standing during the meeting; it keeps energy levels up and prevents the meeting from running too long.
Be early and ready: Show up early and bring all vital material because it helps the meeting run smoothly and productively. Afterward, send out an agenda so everyone remembers what the key points were.
Only invite key players: If a team member is in the room, they should contribute in some way. Don’t have people in meeting just so they’re aware; if they need to know what happened but don’t need to be present, send them the meeting notes. Eliminating extraneous people reduces time wasted.
Follow up: It’s optimistic to think everyone will remember what was said. Keep them on the same page by taking notes and then sending them to everyone involved. This helps team members recall what occurred in the meeting as well as important actions that need to occur in the following days.
Contributed by Alex Ross, marketing coordinator, Agency Ingram Micro.
by 
by