Effective Meetings 101: Quiz Brings Results

How many boring, unproductive meetings have you sat through lately? If you're like most of us, you can't even begin to count how many times you've walked out of a meeting thinking about how much time you wasted.

Face-to-face meetings are still the preferred method of communications by 44 percent of those surveyed in a recent poll conducted by staffing service Office Team [1]. E-mail came in second with 34 percent of participants indicating this as their favorite way to communicate.

According to Santa Monica psychiatrist Mark Goulston, one of the best steps companies can do to ensure meetings remain effective is to conduct a "quiz" at the end of the meeting. Participants are asked if they understand what was discussed and what action they will take as a result of the meeting.

He says this method of agreement brings consensus to the meeting, and important factor if further action is required.