Called to order: learn to hold meetings that are not a complete waste of time.

• Author: Felix, Devin
• Position: Special Section

Win friends in your organization by hosting brief, action-packed meetings. Breck England, senior product architect at FranklinCovey, offers the following suggestions for making meetings productive and efficient.

Meeting Invitations

* Only invite those who are necessary. This may seem obvious, but some could use a reminder. People with nothing to do at a meeting are more likely to be distracted and may resent feeling that their time is being wasted. Similarly, don't hesitate to excuse someone whose purpose at the meeting has been fulfilled.

* Be specific about the purpose of the meeting when you invite participants. On a meeting invitation, include more than a vague topic like "budget meeting" or "strategy update' Instead, include a sentence or two telling attendees what you expect of them at the meeting. They'll be better prepared and more engaged when given a request such as "Please bring information on Project X so we can update each other," or "Please bring budget priorities."

Preparing the Agenda

* Make your agenda items specific and direct. Try writing items as sentences rather than topics. Instead of "Budget," try, "We will vote on whether to approve the budget." The meeting will move more efficiently when everyone knows just what's expected of them.

* Assign time limits to agenda items. This will signal to participants which...