CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

From Unglued to Engaged: 5 Rules to Running Productive Meetings

Lifehack: There’s no denying that meetings have a history of being boring, time consuming and counterproductive…but they don’t have to be. With a little effort and input, you can make meetings both productive and stimulating for everyone involved.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought the section on timelines was particularly effective. If I go into a meeting with a timeline it really helps to plan out how long an element may take to complete. I think the section of meeting highlights seems like a waste. How many people would actually respond to an email that said that. To me that seems like a useless survey for something that doesn't really matter. If the meeting is a large one I could see that being relevant but if someone was doing something wrong I would just tell them one on one.

Jess Bergson said...

This was an interesting article. However, I'm not so sure that these tactics all work as well in the theatre setting. I suppose within production meetings, these tips may be pretty useful. The production manager, in a way, acts as the leader of the meeting, and it is important for the production manager to keep some of these tips in mind. However, some of them don't apply as directly to the theatre. Theatre is a much more collaborative industry than most companies and business. Because of this, I believe that theatre "meetings" are structured or at can be structured in a completely different manner than what was described in this article.

E Young Choi said...

I agree with Jess about how some parts will not be applied in the theatre setting. However, I think these tips are useful and helpful in terms of setting up better meeting that everyone is encouraged to participate. I agree how sometimes, group meetings can turn out to be futile. I think based on these tips, if each other are supportive and respectful of each other's opinions and ideas, the meetings can be progressive in a positive direction because this article particularly acknowledges the importance of active and willingness through engagement and collaboration. I think I should keep this in my mind because I will be dealing with a lot of meetings in theatrical area.

Unknown said...

As with most of the articles posted on in regard to meeting skills, these are fairly self explanatory. It all boils down to the fact that meetings need to have a legitimate purpose and an agenda. If either of these two things are missing, people will not see a reason as to why the meeting is important or what goal they should be working towards. Also, I very much agree that the structure of meetings should foster collaboration, or else there is no point in having a meeting in the first place.