Recovering from a bad meeting

Sometimes bad meetings just happen. The reasons are varied. Some situations we must take responsibility for and others are out of our control. One thing is true however…you can recover from a bad meeting. In this section, I want to share some of the common reasons participants complain about meetings and how you can recover afterward.

The meeting leader is unprepared

This is probably first on the list. When the meeting organizer is unprepared, it shows in everything. From big things such as not distributing an agenda to small details such as refreshments, the meeting leader sets the tone of the meeting and needs to properly prepare.

So why does it happen? Well, here are the three excuses I've heard the most.

"It's a regular meeting, so everyone knows what to do."

Regular meetings need as much structure as impromptu ones. One could argue regular meetings need more preparation. Nonregular meetings have the benefit of appearing important because well…because they're...