We all have read at some point of time how meeting is a waste of time mostly. There are so many suggestions and tips to make it better and more efficient. I observed one flaw with all the tips. They all centred around making the them efficient, but no one talked about how we can possibly avoid it.

One of the most common advice that we get is to prepare beforehand and make some notes. It gave me a thought that if everyone is genuinely preparing notes, can we take a step further? Why not share the notes with the people attending the meeting beforehand.

I started working on this approach and tried to implement it in one of my weekly recurring meeting. There is a document in which I elaborate all the pointers that I plan on covering in the meeting. I then also add some sub pointers which are my high level thoughts on the pointers. This document is then shared with all those attending.

I have been doing it for sometime and there are some huge benefits.

• Sending the pointers and thoughts, we need to think for the meeting and that itself saves a huge time.
• Other people can also pitch in their pointers. Doing these before the meeting is helpful as it give others time to think about this new perspective.
• This also helps in other people to form their opinions and saves a lot of time. Otherwise people walk into the meetings without knowing other people’s perspective and a lot of time is wasted.
• Once we have shared the pointers and if everyone is in agreement, the need for the meeting is no longer necessary.
• Summarising is super efficient. Also as there is tendency to sway from the topics, we can look at the pointers and work around them.
• Time tracking is super easy, as the pointers are already laid out and ready.

I am still perfecting this approach of the meeting and I am sure there would be enhancements to this down the line. Its a continuous process that we need to work on to find the perfect match for ourselves.