Have you been conducting business meetings where you catch your employees dozing off? Or where some people begin to share their ideas, and others shoot them down? Let's admit, we’ve all been a part of bad meetings where there is no clear agenda, and people are coming in late, uninterested, and unproductive.

 

As per statistics, managers spend over 23 hours per week in meetings in an upward 50-year trend. Business meetings play an essential role in decision-making and goal accomplishment. However, most of the discussions remain ineffective since people do not plan properly and ignore the meetings' execution. It results in wastage of time, effort, and money.

 

Nevertheless, we bring you tips that can work for anyone, irrespective of the title or organization. Read on.

 

Ways to Get The Most Out of Your Business Meetings

 

There are ways to conduct well-balanced and productive business meetings that benefit the employees as well as the managers. Effective business meetings should encourage both parties to participate in the session to reach a beneficial decision for the organization.

 

Therefore, we bring you some easy tips that you can use for productive business meetings. We have also included business meetings PPT templates to make your sessions interesting and informative.

1) Prepare

You must prepare and take notes before going to the meeting. Before you send an invite for your next meeting, pause, think, and answer questions such as:

 

→ Why is the meeting important?

 

→ What problems do you want to highlight?

 

→ What is the outcome you are expecting from the meeting?

 

→ Is the meeting necessary, or some other form of communication can serve the purpose?

 

Answering questions like these will help you clear your vision about the meeting and give you a head start for it.

2) Agenda

An agenda is a compass for the conversation. However, a majority of the meetings wander off course as they start with no purpose. Once you know that you want to conduct a meeting, you should go ahead and write the purpose of the meeting on a hand-out or a whiteboard. You can also discuss it explicitly at the outset. You must tell everyone why they are invited to the meeting and what they are supposed to accomplish with it. Therefore, you should set a plan to keep the discussion on track.

3) Value time

Nothing is more annoying than a room waiting for the person in charge to show up. Time is valuable and must be honored. Hence, meetings need to start and end on time. Employees and managers should arrive on time. If the purpose of the meeting is accomplished with a short discussion, it is better to conclude it. There is no point in stretching the session for no reason as it only drains the energy of the group.

4) Encourage open communication

You must let others participate in the meetings and encourage them to share their ideas. In other words, let everyone else flush out their opinions so that you can make a good decision in the end. Take the lead and help people bring out their best ideas to make the wisest decisions. Try to make your meeting a collaborative process. 

5) Give everyone a role

Sometimes, people are reluctant to share their ideas and opinions because they are afraid of being judged. However, you can shatter this phobia and invite them to the foreground by assigning them the roles. Give the participants a job to do in a meeting to help them speak up and make them feel valued.

 

You can assign tasks to the employees such as brainstorming, discussing a plan of action, and more based on the agenda of the meeting. These tasks can help employees prepare their points, feedback, and opinions in the meeting without any stress.

6) Keep an open mind

Many ideas and feedback can deviate you from the purpose of your meeting. You must stick to your agenda; however, keep an open mind to let the employees' new ideas and approaches come in. It makes the employees comfortable to share their honest opinion irrespective of their expertise or rank in the company. 

7) Follow-up

Execute an effective business meeting with a structured follow-up message. Delegate tasks, set deadlines, schedule next meetings, and follow up with employees. Also, take feedback from the employees on the efficacy of a meeting, review it, and conduct open discussions to know the loopholes. Take necessary actions to make business meetings more effective.

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Effective business meetings are meant to keep you engaged and provide you with the correct and vital information. Therefore, you must incorporate the above tips to obtain the best results. To hit the nail on the head, you can use SlideTeam's business meetings do's and don'ts PowerPoint templates to help you navigate formal discussions in the right direction.

Template 1

This business meeting PPT template lets you highlight points that are essential or optional for a meeting. It will help you keep your focus on vital subjects. The template is completely customizable. You can use it based on your needs.

 

Business Meeting PPT Template

 

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Template 2

Use this professionally designed business meeting template to list down things allowed in a meeting. You can use it at the beginning of a meeting to prepare your audience. The template showcases two separate sections for do's and don'ts. You can use both sections to highlight your points clearly in the template.

 

Meeting Rules PPT Slide

 

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Template 3

Clinch your next deal with this template which showcases ways to conduct a valuable and dynamic meeting with a client. The slide showcases do's and don'ts that everyone needs to follow during a client meeting. You can incorporate your points in the slide as it is a customizable template.

 

Business Meeting PowerPoint Template

 

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Template 4

Create a business meeting do's and don'ts list with this PPT template. Use this ready-made design to display the practices that must be followed in a business meeting. It also highlights points that should be ignored during business meetings at all times. It is a creatively designed template to help grab the audience's attention. Select this customizable template now!

 

Organizational Discussion PowerPoint Slide

 

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Template 5

Make your next business meeting successful and achieve your goals with this PPT template. This flexible design will help you plan your sessions, set agenda, and communicate your ideas effectively. Incorporate this customizable slide now to hold an impressive discussion.

 

Business Discussion PowerPoint Template

 

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Template 6

Bring out the best of the ideas in your business meetings using this innovative PowerPoint template. You can incorporate this PPT slide to showcase the purpose of the meeting, assign tasks, create an action plan, and more. Grab this customizable preset to make your meetings interesting for the employees.

 

Company Meeting Management PPT Slide

 

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Template 7

Lead effective business meetings using this simple yet innovative PowerPoint template. This customizable slide is set to help you conduct a productive business meeting by letting you showcase the vital points. Keep everyone on track and focused with this stunning PPT slide.

 

Business Discussion Etiquette PPT Template

 

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Conclusion

 

Conducting business meetings requires effort and patience. It is essential to outline discussions beforehand to make an impact on the audience. 

 

So use the tips mentioned above with the professionally designed do's and don'ts templates to maximize the effectiveness of your meetings. Incorporate our editable slides to encourage the desired business etiquettes. After all, when the design is brilliant,  formal sessions become interesting and engaging automatically.

 

P.S: To increase the efficiency of your on-site and remote meetings, explore our actionable PPT templates featured in the blog