Holding effective meetings

As an organisation, we spend a lot of time in meetings. So we should make sure that time is well spent and that our meetings are conducted in ways that allow diverse voices to input into and inform our decisions.

The ways in which we choose to conduct our meetings can and should be more varied in response to new technologies and different patterns of working. However, the need to run effective and inclusive meetings remains a constant.

This guidance has been developed to support colleagues across the university to lead, organise and participate in effective and inclusive meetings. It provides information on how to choose the most effective meeting format and offers advice and top tips for chairs, meeting organisers and attendees.

The guidance has been developed in collaboration with colleagues from across Loughborough University, taking into consideration a diverse range of viewpoints, as well as a review of the literature and best practice across multiple sectors. We would like to take the opportunity to thank colleagues who have contributed to the development process and we will continue to review the guidance on an ongoing basis as we move to a more dynamic way of working.

We will support online and in-person meetings and consider both formats to be effective and equitable. The most appropriate format for any given meeting will be determined by a combination of what you are trying to achieve from the meeting, how many people are attending, the dynamic working arrangements of attendees and in some cases the personal circumstances of attendees. Wherever possible you are encouraged to arrange either fully in-person or fully on-line meetings. Hybrid meetings, that require interaction, should be used sparingly as they are resource intensive to run effectively and equitably.

Some simple top tips include:

• Establish etiquette guidelines: Agree a system to give everyone a voice. Use the ‘hands up’ functionality to agree who speaks next and use chat function to allow everyone to contribute if they feel more comfortable doing this.
  Use names and give context: When responding to chat comments, repeat the relevant remarks and make clear who you’re responding to. Don’t just say ‘Yes, Jane that’s right’ because others may not have seen Jane’s comment and it won’t make sense to them.
• Engage participants regularly: It’s hard to simply listen online for a long time. Invite participants to give comments or ask questions, and use tools like chat, reactions or polls.
• Ensure that participants have adequate equipment and Wi-Fi connection to engage in the MSTeams meeting. This might mean some participants joining online from campus rather than a home location.
• Ensure that participants, especially those joining online from campus are doing so from an appropriate space/are using headphones to reduce background noise.
• Keep slides simple and visual: wordy slides which may be difficult to read, especially if someone is joining from a mobile device.