Purpose

Synchronous meetings are one of the most important ways we share information and work together at NewLimit. Meetings are also expensive to conduct — everyone in the room is committing time and not working on something else. It’s important that we run them efficiently.

Below we outline a few ways to run an effective meeting.

Set an agenda

Each meeting should have an Agenda of topics to cover, and the desired outcome of each discussion.

The Agenda should be prepared by the Owner of the meeting, ideally at least 24 hours in advance. The Owner may be the person who called the meeting, or an assigned presenter in the case of recurring meetings.

Invite team members

Inviting team members is trickier than it sounds at first. It’s important to include everyone whose opinion is needed, and also to ensure that no one’s time is wasted.

It can be tempting to include everyone with tangential connection to a topic to ensure no one feels left out. This is conscientious, but not always the most valuable use of their time.

We recommend that you invite team members who aren’t absolutely required using the Optional feature in Google Calendar. This way, team members decide if participating in a passive way is the best possible use of their time.

Capturing the meeting with notes allows team members who opted-out to stay apprised of the meeting outcomes, often in a fraction of the time.

Set the goals

Before calling a meeting, it’s important to state the desired outcome. If we can’t articulate a clear outcome, the content might be better addressed through asynchronous or one-on-one communication first.

Goals for a meeting often break down into three categories.

1. Decision: A decision needs to be made, and the input of others in the meeting is required (e.g. an approval is needed). The Owner should spell out the decision and a recommendation (see: Completed Staff Work). The final decision maker should be clear before the meeting.
   1. e.g. The Owner planned a large experiment and would like approval to proceed.
2. Feedback: The Owner is seeking feedback from other participants to help inform a decision they will make.
   1. e.g. The Owner is planning an experiment and would like input from a broader group before executing.
3. Information: The sole purpose is to ensure others in the meeting have been made aware of some information. If you find yourself listing Information as the only reason for meeting, the content may be more appropriate for an asynchronous format.

Prepare a pre-read

Most of the time, it’s useful to prepare a pre-read before the meeting. This section should be read in the meeting to ensure everyone has the same information. Pre-reads are especially important if the purpose of a meeting is to make a decision**.**

For Decision meetings, a pre-read should contain all the evidence necessary for the decision makers come to the correct conclusion. For example, if there is a decision to be made about how to proceed with a new experiment based on a past experiment, the relevant data from the past experiment should be summarized and linked in a pre-read.