1. Meetings Suck? Not any more! Atul Mathur www.atulmathur.com

2. Why Meetings Suck? Like riding a taxi, you pay for meetings with your time WorkMeetings But if they dont help to move your work forward, you feel like this guy on the right Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

3. Lets Remind Ourselves Were not paid to attend meetings; we are paid to accomplish some specific objectives Meetings are just a means to an end…not the end in itself Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

4. Cost of Excessive and Unproductive meetings Pressure, anxiety, stress Skills, knowledge, career prospects Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

5. What Can We Do? Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

6. Before Meeting Objective: Think about what do you want to achieve? Make a decision? Prepare a plan? Brief everyone? Brainstorm? Ask: Do we really need a meeting? Think: Whom should you invite? [Have no spectators] Set an agenda and send it in advance If you get an invitation without agenda, ask for it Prepare before walking into a meeting Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

7. During Meeting Begin with a clear statement of objective [people should know why they are there] Stick to the agenda (avoid digressions) Start on time--and end on time Make sure meeting is not more than 50 min Politely leave a meeting when you find yourself playing spectator (with nothing to contribute and nothing to gain) Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

8. After Meeting Ask yourself: Did it help to move my work forward? Did it help someone else to move his/her work forward? Did it help my team to move forward with our collective goal? Or, none of the above Immediately send out a short and crisp note, listing: Information Actions [with names & dates] Decisions Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

9. Symptoms of Two Types of Meetings UNPRODUCTIVE Drag on…never seem to finish Distracted, touching on several points without addressing them in detail and conclusive manner Leave you stressed and feeling unproductive PRODUCTIVE Start and end on time Focused Leave you energized and feeling productive Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur

10. Attend Productive Meetings Thank you Copyright 2012 Atul Mathur