How to Succeed in Meetings Without Really Trying

Do you hate meetings? Most people do. In any country, China included, and at any time.
Even though they can be an enormous waste of time, meetings still happen in every business, every day. Consider these ten ways to make meetings shorter and better ie. more productive (warning: some are a little mean):

1. Start on time. (Duh.)
2. Punish latecomers–charge them ten RMB, make them serve coffee, require them to stay standing. Do this in a good-natured way! The point is to humiliate them just enough that they change their behavior but not so much that they resent (or sue) you.
3. Set a crystal-clear agenda. “We are here to decide X.” And stick to it. If Y and Z come up, note them down for a future meeting and get back to X.
4. Make clear at the outset how long the meeting will last. Set a clock on the table for all to see.
5. If you have droners/babblers/pontificaters, establish a limit for how long any one person can talk. Use an egg timer. Really.
6. Ban toys. That means no Blackberries, iPods, or cellphones to interrupt the meeting or distract the inattentive.
7. Schedule meetings for first thing in the morning. People are more alert, and (we hope) still intending to get some work done that day.
8. Hold meetings standing up. Stand-up meetings are one-third shorter than sit-down meetings. (This statistic just invented by Working Girl, but she bets she’s right.)
9. Keep the meeting room a little cold. Cruel but effective! People will want to get the business done so they can get back to their more comfortable work areas.
10. Don’t provide cookies/donuts/candy. A lot of managers think they need to bribe people to come to meetings by supplying food but it’s distracting, noisy, and messy. And who needs the calories.
If you follow these rules, you will have powerful, productive, pleasant, even peppy, meetings. You will get stuff done. Your co-workers (except the droners) will love you. Your boss will love you. You will love you.
Oh—forgot one tip: Only hold a meeting if it’s really necessary. Shouldn’t this go without saying? But how many unnecessary meetings have you been to?
Article by Karen Burns and courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry level jobs and other career opportunities