While an agenda is supposed to keep meetings under control, attendees do not always follow them. Rants and off-topic tangents can cause meetings to run long and eat up everyone’s valuable time. You have to balance keeping the meeting on track without alienating the attendees.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to keep meetings on time:
- Assign a parker and timekeeper: Ask someone to volunteer as a timekeeper. The timekeeper points out when the time for each topic is up. The parker keeps a list of topics that should be discussed later. The topics are parked and not discussed during the meeting.
- Make the agenda visible: Do not assume people will bring their agendas. Post the agenda for all to see, or hand out copies at the beginning.
- Remind participants about the purpose: You should remind participants of the purpose of the meeting before it starts and during the meeting if necessary.
- Signal the chairperson: The chairperson is ultimately responsible for seeing that the meeting runs well. You could work out a signal system ahead of time to point out distractions.