A project meeting is a regular event where people involved in a project gather to report on progress, discuss issues, approve or reject ideas, and solve problems; its purpose is to increase communication and accelerate the project’s progress to optimize time.

Taking that into consideration, project meetings are a fundamental tool for every project manager, as they allow you to come up with different strategies and make decisions that will set the pace and facilitate the whole process. Also, they are a great opportunity to discuss ideas and achieve consensus with your team. That is why it is so important to put up effective meetings; otherwise, you will be wasting time and money.

In this sense, some steps you need to consider to organize a successful project meeting include:

Plan with anticipation: decide the purpose of the meeting, focusing on your objectives; that way you will have a clear goal to set up an agenda according to the outcomes desired. Planning a schedule in advance will not only make it easier to keep on topic, but also establish a time frame that will guide the team during the process.

A thorough selection of the attendees: once you decide a meeting is needed, you have to choose carefully those who are essential to achieve the goals pursued. If possible, it is important to select a small amount of people, since that will help the team focus on the objectives and not get distracted with other issues.

After that, let them know why they are being called; informing everyone their role and what they are expected to do is vital, as it will make them feel included and part of the team; it will increase their participation in the project and, therefore, enhance their engagement.

Share the agenda: make sure every person attending the meeting knows its subject and aims beforehand; that will give them the chance to be more creative with their ideas and be prepared with the information needed once the gathering time comes. Plus, everyone will be aware of the order of proceedings, so they will stick to the items listed and the meeting will be more organized and, therefore, dynamic and productive.

Manage time properly: the amount of time you dedicate to a meeting is crucial, as the clock is an ideal tool to stick to the agenda and simultaneously push it forward. Thus, always have a plan of action, start and end the meeting on time, and make sure everyone knows that late arrivals will not be accepted. Moreover, if someone comes late, do not stop to explain what you are talking about; that way you will show them authority and reliability.

Also, there will always be people who are shier and more reluctant than others to express their opinion; do not let some team members talk incessantly and ensure everyone has the time to participate and contribute to the debate.

Keep in mind that sometimes some issues may take longer to discuss and resolve than others; that is completely normal so do not freak out. Just remember it is important to have a balance between rigidity and flexibility; if you manage to combine both features you will succeed as a project manager.

Encourage your team to be creative: increase your team’s interaction and engagement with the project by encouraging them to generate diverse ideas. Take into consideration all views and do not reject any proposal; you will be able to discuss later which idea best fits your goals.

There are some particularly useful techniques that you can practice to stimulate your team’s creativity, such as brainstorming, brainwriting, time-boxing, and best-worst ideas. These are very dynamic ways of facing bottlenecks and issues that may need a quick response and resolution.

Get ready to take notes: one of your main jobs as the meeting organizer is to take detailed notes. Make sure you document and record every progress: decisions made, completed tasks, updated issues, and concerns. This step is fundamental for the next one…

The follow up: during the meeting, the exchange of information and the discussions will raise many issues that cannot be solved at the moment, so you will have to follow them up: write them down in the agenda and program a future meeting to deal with them.

Summarize: make a recap of the project and its current state, a list of things that need to be accomplished, and the goals that have already been reached. This summary will assure everyone is on the same page and will encourage your team to take on the next stages of the project.

In a nutshell, organization is key to effectively run a project meeting. Follow the steps above, make sure you keep track of every accomplishment, drawback, and challenge that may arise throughout the process, and you will be ready to succeed!