Take a look at the calendar of a typical Vegas Young Professional (your own would be a great example). Chances are that either you want fewer scheduled meetings (several fewer meetings) or for the meetings that you do have scheduled to be more productive (much more productive). I was recently consoling a friend after a long day. This was their exact schedule was as follows:

Thursday

• 9:00 a.m.   Team meeting (Summerlin office)
• 10:30 a.m. Conference call with vendor
• 12:00 p.m. Luncheon (Four Seasons)
• 2:00 p.m.   Meeting with lead referral source (Coffee Bean in The District)
• 4:15 p.m.   Meeting with customer (Rainbow and 215)
• 5:00 p.m.   Call with District Manager
• 6:00 p.m.   Networking event (Aria)

...an excruciating day, full of several boring, ineffective, and possibly unavoidable meetings.

These meetings were unbearable for the same reason you dread going into meetings--the same reason you commiserate with my friend. Glance at your calendar again. That pit you feel at the bottom of your stomach is typical and caused by a lack the three key elements of an effective meeting: an agenda, preparation, and a scheduled end. Knowing why a meeting is scheduled, knowing you will actually get something done, and knowing you will be finished on time will help you avoid that awful feeling you get when you look at your calendar each morning. Imagine a meeting with these three elements; this is a meeting that will not make your wonder, "What am I doing here and when can I leave?”

By agenda, I really mean it in two senses of the word. A typical agenda outlines the topics that are going to be covered but an agenda is also the purpose for holding the meeting. Looking back at the Thursday calendar, my friend agreed to schedule a call with the vendor on short notice because there was a break in the day but it wasn't clear what was going to be covered. By the eventual end of the call, it still wasn't clear what was covered because there was no agenda, no specific information to discuss, and no goal to achieve. If a meeting does not have a reason, there is no reason to have the meeting.

When people arrive prepared, they can engage in a dialogue. When they engage in a dialogue, decisions can be made. When decision can be made, progress can be completed. A 2:00 pm meeting with a lead referral source sounded productive, but by showing up without a prepared line of questioning and the source arriving without any contacts, the meeting simply had to be rescheduled.

The customer arrived late to the 4:15 pm meeting. I can only guess it was because there was not a set agenda, but the meeting ended late, making my friend late to the call with the District Manager which creates another set of problems I am sure you can imagine. Any meeting at any time can go over the allotted time and often does because people arrive late, unaware of the agenda and under-prepared.

These key elements must be present in each meeting for time to be spent productively. When scheduling a meeting, make certain everyone attending has a copy of the agenda in advance and knows what the purpose of the meeting is. If you want to have a good meeting, don't keep the agenda a secret. Everyone should know what to expect when they walk through the door. Contact all attendees in advance and let them know what they need to do to prepare for the meeting. Without notice, don't expect anyone to arrive with materials, answers, or even ideas. When you set an agenda, prepare the participants, and have the will to end the meeting on time, you will end on time. It is a guarantee.

Those meetings that you are not leading, meetings that you have been invited to attend, can still be great, productive meetings even if the organizer has not planned to include the three elements but this means you have some work to do. If an agenda is not available when the meeting is scheduled, ask the organizer what the agenda will be. If there is not already an agenda, not wanting to look like a fool, they will certainly prepare one. Also ask what you need to do in order to be prepared. There is a good chance that this will be their cue to contact the other attendees to make sure they are prepared. The worst thing that might happen is you gain the reputation as the person that always comes to meetings prepared. The final element, a scheduled end, can be tricky but you can always let everyone know in advance that you have another responsibility to attend to should the meeting run late.

It is your calendar and your stomach with the pit at the bottom. Take responsibility for your meetings and the meetings you attend. Make sure there is an agenda and that everyone knows what it is. Come prepared and do everything you can to prepare others. Set the expectation that the meeting will end on time. To stay productive, keep these three elements in each of your meetings.