Create an Agenda – A detailed agenda helps attendees prepare for the meeting in advance. They know what you’re discussing and can start to come up with their own ideas and perspectives, so they are ready to contribute to the conversation. That helps your meeting run more smoothly as you’re not wasting time giving everyone the context of why you’re meeting and what you’re talking about.

Then, during the meeting, an agenda helps keep the conversation focused. You lose less time to off-topic discussions because everyone knows what you need to cover in the meeting. The bottom line is this: clear objectives, an agenda and identified roles never go out of style.

Touching on the goal of the meeting is helpful. It gives participants a clear understanding of why they are there and what outcome you hope to achieve by the end of the discussion. When everyone understands the purpose from the beginning, it is easier to stay focused and work toward a common goal.

Introduce Participants – Most of us like to know a bit more about the people we’re working with. Participant introductions can help people to find out what skills and experience lie within the group, as well as put a name to a face.

Some people like to keep their private lives separate from work. As facilitators, we have to respect that. Some people are plain shy and we have to be aware of this. Doing some homework beforehand will help you to decide the most appropriate way to conduct introductions, including simple prompts such as asking each person to share their name and role, or their name and one thing they hope to get out of the session. Other examples could include asking participants to share one skill they bring to the group, or one word that describes how they are feeling at the start of the session.

Be mindful of time – Off-topic discussions are the biggest challenge for people in meetings. They waste time, so you have less time and energy to cover your agenda points and give enough time to everyone’s ideas. They distract everyone from your main objectives, making your team less productive and the meeting less efficient.

Tackle distractions and off-topic conversations by placing a time limit on each agenda item or section of the meeting. You could also create a “parking lot” where you record good ideas from these discussions so you can return to them in the next meeting rather than talk about them now.

Don’t let one person dominate the conversation – Effective meetings are ones where everyone contributes to the conversation and is involved in the decision-making process.

One of the biggest meeting challenges is when one person dominates the conversation. This behavior makes it hard for others to find the space to contribute. But if some people aren’t contributing to your meeting, you’re missing out on their particular insights, and they’re wasting their time being there.

One of the key facilitation skills is the ability to get all meeting participants engaged. Pay attention to who isn’t speaking in the meeting and find opportunities to get their voice heard. You could directly ask for their opinions or ask more open-ended questions.

And if you have one attendee who dominates the conversation, give them a different role to make space for others to speak. For example, you could designate them as meeting timekeepers or the main note-taker.

Send follow up notes – At the end of a meeting, it is useful to list the tasks to be accomplished and to assign people to those tasks. This action list should be sent to all participants in the form of minutes along with a list of key decisions made and important information recorded at the meeting.

Think to yourself: Was the goal of the meeting met? Reviewing your notes can help answer that question and prepare you for the next meeting. Follow up notes also provide accountability, ensuring everyone understands their responsibilities and next steps