Most organizations conduct meetings to get effective and prominent results. Some of the time meetings lead to boring and time-wasting sessions with no positive results. During meetings, participants share their conceptual thoughts, important information, rules & regulations, and discuss issues.
To find solutions and discuss problems, you will need to conduct a meeting that provides you positive outcomes. If the attendees of a meeting are not focused on the point, the result of the meeting is only a waste of everybody’s time and energy.
Here I am going to discuss and going to find out the answer about how to make boring meetings fun? According to the industry researchers, keeping all the participants engaged during a meeting is the key point of a successful meeting. Active participants can share positive and result-oriented ideas that are useful for the said agenda of the meeting.
Follow the following tips to make your next meetings more successful, effective, and interesting.
PREPARATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE AGENDA AND OBJECTIVES OF THE MEETING
As the invitee of a meeting, you will need to prepare a comprehensive agenda and objective for the said meeting. According to business analysts, meeting without an agenda always end up with no results. It is because the attendees of the meeting are not familiar with the topic of discussion and came without any preparation.
By preparing a meeting agenda, attendees can be ready to discuss and share their ideas for the said issue. It is also necessary to distribute the meeting agenda before the time and date (at least 2-days before) of the meeting.
The objective of the meeting is an essential part of a comprehensive meeting agenda. While preparing a meeting agenda, mention the objective of the meeting on the top of the agenda.
As I said before, it is necessary to distribute the meeting agenda before the time of the meeting. So, when the attendees come to join the meeting, they came with a solution or can share their valuable thoughts on the said issues.
HELP THEM OUT TO ENCOURAGE AND BOOST THEIR CREATIVITY
To make a boring meeting into a result-oriented and fun meeting, you will need to encourage attendees to draw their ideas instead of writing them. Presenting an idea through sketching and doodling is not only a fun way to express the thoughts, but it also enhances the creativity of participants.
Doing that can provide you smart ideas and a visual perception of a said issue. During the meeting, distribute some blank paper and colored pencils to draw the ideas among all participants. After describing the said issue, command them to draw the solution by sketching and doodling with their names.
After they have done, collect the sheets and save the sheets for the record. You will need to describe to them that you are not going to search for an artist, but you are just doing that for collecting ideas.
KEEP THE TIME OF THE MEETING IN MIND
According to business analysts, long meetings are boring and mostly end up without results. Make the meeting time short (not more than one hour) and always start the meeting on time. While preparing the agenda of a meeting, always keep the time limit of the meeting in mind.
In case you are going to conduct a meeting early in the morning, welcome your guests with tea and start the meeting on time. In case you are going to conduct a meeting in the afternoon, never forget about the lunch break and arrange some snacks for the attendees.
You will also need to apply time restrictions on the debates. When you are going to allow somebody to speak for a said issue, instruct them to conclude in 5 minutes.
TRY TO GAMIFY THE MEETINGS
When we were kids, we learn through playing games and playoffs. Taking advantage of this kid like touch and sense at work will enable the team to work in a joyful environment. You can design some stickers and award the stickers to the person who offers a positive solution for the issue.
At the end of the meeting, you can announce a reward for the attendee who collected maximum stickers. This reward could be a luxury lunch or dinner with family, a short holiday plan for the family, or whatever you like to give them.
You can also conduct some meeting games among the meeting participants. Divide the participants into two groups and announce the reward for the winning team. It will result in a productive and active team. You can also announce the winning team will get the project or something else.
For winning a project, all the team members do their best and provide you the positive outcomes. By engaging all the attendees into gaming, you can easily turn a boring meeting into a fun and productive meeting. Team building games are perfect to choose when you are conducting a team-building meeting.
LET THEM SPEAK AND SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS
Never conduct a meeting for just feeding your thoughts to the attendees’ minds. You will need to allow the attendees to talk, share, and speak during the meetings. It could be about their problems, progress, suggestions, and all the other things related to the agenda of the meeting.
If you are a boss who never allows a person to speak during meetings, probably your worker or employees avoid your next meetings. This behavior leads to a boring and time-wasting meeting. Getting ideas from the attendees can help you out for better decision making.
If you allow the attendees to speak their thoughts, they will feel honorable and do their best. It is good practice to give importance to a suggestion and guide other attendees to discuss it further.
Final Thoughts
Make these changes to turn a boring meeting into a fun meeting. I hope these steps will help to get more exciting and productive results. It is because when attendees feel relaxed and comfortable during a meeting, they can perform better.
Never let your employees feel you are a boss who only gathers them to listen to you. Make them feel that you care and honor their suggestions for the benefits of the organization.
