Make Meetings Suck Less!
One of the most common reasons people leave or don’t engage with an organization is because they feel like the experience was not worth their time – especially meetings.
Meetings serve as a powerful tool for our membership in so many ways. They allow us to have important conversations, get tasks done, gain buy-in and most importantly, cultivate that community with like minded individuals we boast as a benefit of getting involved.
So, if they are so important, why do we have such a difficult time making meetings effective, meaningful and organized? It’s because we don’t take the time to think about ways to improve the experience.
How do we make meetings suck less? It’s all in the planning (ahead of time).
Involve your Executive Committee & Advisor
A minimum of 48 hours prior to the meeting, you, the executive committee and your advisor should align on the agenda items, assign speaking roles and determine if there is any tasks you or members need to accomplish before the meeting. Involving your executive committee helps ensure nothing gets missed, provides them opportunity to lead in their role and allows your advisor to help.
Send the Agenda in Advance
A minimum of 24 hours prior to the meeting, email out the agenda. Be sure to include any reminders like time/location, action items from last week or things they need to do to prepare. This ensures there are no surprises and members can come in ready to engage.
Follow A Similar Agenda Week-to-Week
This helps your members know what to expect, keeps you on track and makes it easier to assign roles and responsibilities. Here’s an easy structure:
- Start the Meeting with Positivity: This could be a quick energizer activity, a dance party, or sharing an uplifting video. Ask a different member to lead this each week. This gets more folks involved and ensures a bit of joy is infused into every meeting.
- Guest Speaker(s): Make sure to add their names and topics to the agenda.
- Discussion Topics: The items you need deeper buy-in from your members on, engaging them in ensuring the organization’s success to make decisions.
- Updates and Reminders: This is where your officer reports live and ensures that important discussions do not get missed first. This is also a great time to check-in on the organization’s progress on its goals or any announcements from your student life office like upcoming training opportunities or events.
- Action Items: The tasks need to be accomplished in the next week. This allows members to understand what’s expected of them before the next meeting so they can plan accordingly.
- End the Meeting with Celebration: Celebrate your members by providing them space to share a personal win from the last week and get some love from their community.
Meetings have the ability to hurt or help member retention in our organizations, so let’s take the time to make it worth THEIR time. I promise they’ll notice and you’ll see them come back next week. Happy planning!