Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand: Meet Less and Do More

4

The Art of the Agenda: Your Flight Plan

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.

—YOGI BERRA

A good meeting begins with a clear purpose and an agenda to accomplish that purpose.

If a meeting is spontaneous, the first agenda item is to draw up an agenda. With three coworkers standing in the hall, this can be as simple as stating what the purpose of the informal meeting is and what you hope to accomplish. Ideally, if logistics permit, the informal agenda should be written on a flip chart or whiteboard where everyone ...