Verified
Steps to making all meetings effective and efficient:
- Create a entry for every meeting
- Fill out the default template at least 24 hours in advance
- Attach the meeting notes link in the description of the Google Calendar Invite
- Add fred@fireflies.ai to Google Calendar invite
- Meeting owner enforces the template during the meeting
- Meeting owner add the Fireflies link to meeting notes at the end of the meeting
- Meeting owner shares Meeting Notes link via Slack for those who need to be informed but didn’t need to attend
Meeting Notes Template Guide
- Every meeting must have a Meeting Owner
- The right Attendees are invited
- Determine the Desired Outcome for every meeting
- Determine what Asynchronous Preparation can be done
- Enforce that this asynchronous work is completed.
- Share Personal Updates
- Time-box the synchronous agenda.
- Write down all Tasks with an Owner and due date.
- Collect written Feedback on the meeting itself.
Meeting Owner
Without a Meeting Owner, there will be a tragedy of the commons. Unless one person is responsible for making them happen, all of the other necessary ingredients of a successful meeting will not occur, as no one will feel authorized to grab the ball. If you are a meeting owner, you want those participating in the meeting to feel the meeting was productive, as it’s a direct reflection on you.
Attendees
You should aspire to have the minimum number of people necessary in a meeting. Meetings might seem cool to be a part of, but more meetings = less time for deep, focused work. Ask yourself, does this person need to be here, or can they just read the meeting notes/summary? Even if they have to replay the whole meeting at 1.5x on a recording, that still saves them 33% of the time and reduces interruption to their flow as they can watch on their own time.
Desired Outcome
What is the actual purpose of this meeting? This should be clearly stated and written down. At the end of each meeting, each participant should check off whether the purpose was achieved.
Most meetings don't declare a purpose, and therefore become arenas for people to hear themselves talk. I call those … Board Meetings.
Asynchronous Preparation
Much of a meeting can be done asynchronously. Any status update, declaration of an issue to be solved, pipeline to be reviewed … can all be written and shared in advance, allowing others to read and comment on them even before the meeting begins.
Personal Updates
Our team is fully remote, therefore informal chat about personal lives rarely happens. Without this step or something like it, our team loses personal connection and trust over time.
Enforcement
While it is true that much of the meeting prep can be done asynchronously, that doesn't mean that everyone will do it. This is where the Meeting Owner creates value: enforcement. My preferred process is to show people how to do things in a group setting before asking them to do it on their own in advance.
Time-box
Certain things must be done synchronously. Set time limits and stick to them. If you're too focused as a meeting owner and can't keep track of time, appoint a timekeeper.
Write down all Tasks
This step is where most meetings fail. People are so relieved to have gotten to a decision on Issues that they fail to take the final step of writing down every Task, assigning each action to one person (people can work collaboratively, but there must be one person who reports whether the Task got done or not) and a due date. It is the difference-maker. The meeting owner is the default person in charge of making sure Tasks are completed on time.
Feedback
Always ask for written feedback at the end of every meeting. It usually takes 2-3 minutes to give. Its the very last agenda item so that people can leave as soon as they finish writing.
Giving this feedback makes people feel heard, which encourages them to participate fully in future meetings. It also gives valuable advice on how to improve meetings in the future.
If you don't ask for feedback, people don't give it. They still have thoughts about improving the meeting, but they withhold those thoughts and then build up resentment towards you. Asking for feedback instantly bleeds off that resentment.