We have all experienced bad meetings at work. Perhaps it was one so basic that it could have been handled as an email.

Perhaps it was a meeting when nobody participated and everyone attending the meeting just felt awkward.

Regardless of the experience, you know you don’t want meetings you host to be that way.

So what can you do to prevent such fiascos? The New York Times shared a plethora of strategies for running a more effective meeting, including some of these standouts:

Keep a Plan

A good meeting should have an agenda with a realistic timeframe for how long you want to devote to each topic. The reason so many meetings drag is due to haphazard planning that allows the talk to just go on until everyone runs out of things to say.

Have a point you want to discuss and wrap things up when that is accomplished.

Be Clear on Expectations

Every meeting has its own tone depending on what you want to be achieved. Maybe you just want to share information. Maybe you want everyone to share ideas.

The attendees don’t know if you don’t tell them. State your purpose at the forefront so everyone is clear about what you want them there for.

Make it a Conversation

If you want thoughts from others, the meeting should not be you reciting a monologue to everyone. That doesn’t engage everyone and it denies you valuable insight from the participants.

The other meeting attendees know where they are struggling so let them share what needs attention.

Let Everyone Speak

Encourage everyone to speak up and don’t let the chatty employees dominate the room. You might think some employees don’t care because they don’t contribute.

But it could also be they don’t feel comfortable doing so because they frequently get interrupted. Give everyone a turn.

Have a Reason for Meetings

This one sounds like it should be obvious, but some companies do daily morning meetings that might not be necessary. If you need everyone’s input to start the day, fine.

If not, maybe look at alternative ways to convey your information. A meeting should not be a force of habit.

Arranging an effective meeting is a skill and every skill has its time and place. Use the steps here to make sure you are getting the results you want out of your meetings.

For a more details read of all the ways you can make your meetings more effective, check out the New York Times article here.

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Kyle Ingham, Founder of The Distilled Man, shares 8 simple tips for running more productive and efficient meetings.

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