Before the meeting
Meetings that are held on a regular basis need agendas. They don't have to be printed agendas; they can be e-mailed, although printed agendas can be helpful. In my experience, participants can forget to bring agendas, even when you tell them to print and bring the agenda to the meeting. This causes a delay at the beginning of the meeting, because someone will have to go print a handful of agendas.
For some meetings, a printed agenda isn't practical. The stand-up meeting I mentioned earlier didn't have a printed agenda, but the format was exactly the same every day:
The Operations Manager opened the meeting and shared any noteworthy items.
The Sales Director discussed special visitors and VIPs.
The Human Resources Director shared important employee announcements.
There was an open floor for any other matters.
The meeting was simple and straightforward. If the Sales Director wasn't present, he sent the assistant director to report in his place. Everyone knew the agenda and it...
