Wasting money sucks, and running meetings that suck wastes money. If an employee spends about an hour a day attending meetings, and that employee doesn’t get much out of those meetings, then they are wasting about ⅛ of their time, or 12% of a company’s payroll, doing something that doesn’t maximize their potential and productivity.
Cameron Herold, author of Meetings Suck – Turning One of the Most Loathed Elements of Business Into One of the Most Valuable, has attended thousands of meetings. Some were valuable, and many were a waste of time and money. In his book, he sheds light on why most meetings are pointless and give readers the tools to make meetings more productive and more profitable. I had the pleasure of interviewing him on the Transform Your Workplace podcast – which clearly didn’t suck – and learned the key tenants to running meetings that people want to attend.


Listen to the full conversation on the Transform your Workplace podcast


Here are 14 keys to running successful meetings that don’t suck:

  1. Present a Clear & Compelling Purpose

Anyone attending a meeting should know why they’re there, and they should believe that it’s necessary to be there. A statement of purpose should be clear, concise, and intentional. Put time into developing how you’re going to state your purpose and make sure attendees know what it is before they arrive.

  1. Minimize Meeting Outcomes

A productive meeting has no more than three desired outcomes or things you’d like to get done. If there are more than three outcomes, then hold another meeting. Each outcome should directly support the stated purpose of the meeting, and, whenever possible, they should be connected and support each other.

  1. Announce the Agenda in Advance

Along with the meeting’s purpose, present the agenda to attendees in advance so that they know what’s going to be covered and in what order, how it will be covered, and how long it will take to cover it. Arrange agenda items so that attendees who need to cover the first two items but not the last can politely leave the meeting when they are no longer needed.
As an attendee, if someone invites you to a meeting, and there isn’t a clear purpose and agenda, ask for one. This will not only enable you to make the most of your time and avoid meetings that don’t apply to you, but it will also show initiative and that you value purpose and like to be prepared.

  1. Start on Time

This one’s so obvious and somehow one of the most missed. Starting on time is respectful and shows attendees that you not only send agendas, but you also stick to them. You value their time, and you are organized and prepared.

  1. Finish Early (But Not Too Early)

A good meeting concludes about five minutes before the scheduled ending time. Attendees will leave with time to get back to their workspaces, talk with their colleagues, and process what you’ve just covered in the meeting. Don’t end more than five minutes early; attendees will be irritated about “losing” time that they could have scheduled for something else.
As Herold pointed out in our conversation, “Work expands to fill the space that we give it. So if you don’t give it a container, of course, your chatter is going to go on forever because you haven’t contained it.”

  1. Bring Back-up

A productive meeting has three key players: a moderator, a timekeeper, and a parking lot attendant.

  • The moderator establishes the meeting’s purpose and agenda and makes sure everyone stays on track, and the meeting leads to the planned outcomes.
  • The timekeeper manages the agenda by assigning each item a time limit and helping the moderator stick to those limits.
  • The parking lot attendant records anything that comes up that’s not on the meeting agenda and that needs to be addressed later.
  1. Establish the Type of Meeting

There are different ways to run different meetings, and meeting moderators should decide and communicate what type of meeting they are running before they run it. For example, is the meeting a daily stand-up huddle during which one person quickly delivers key points? Or, is it what Harold calls an adrenaline meeting, during which each person speaks to boost motivation and inspire action?
Moderators should choose the style of meeting that best supports their purpose and desired outcomes, and attendees should know what to expect and how to participate before they arrive.

  1. Teach Everyone How to Run & Attend Meetings

If the most experienced and successful baseball coach in the country has a team of people who don’t know how to play baseball, then his team will obviously fail. The same goes for meetings. Train employees how to run and attend meetings so that they can maximize their time and meeting outcomes. If you’ve never been trained, then attend a workshop, do some research, read Herold’s book, and learn.
Another thing to keep in mind here is that hierarchy doesn’t matter in meetings. When everyone in the room knows how to run and attend a meeting, then the meeting moderator doesn’t need to have seniority; they just need to know what’s going on and why, and they need to know how to best present that to their audience.

  1. Support & Celebrate Opt-Outs

When a meeting’s purpose and agenda are clear, support employees who opt out of a meeting because they will be more productive and profitable doing something else. Encourage employees to attend only the parts of a meeting that are relevant to them, and plan for short transitions between agenda items where those who wish to leave a meeting can do so comfortably. Create a culture where leaving a meeting isn’t rude or dismissive; it’s thoughtful and productive.

  1. Embrace Conflict

Moderators and attendees should not fear conflict; they should see it as an opportunity to tighten teams, develop solutions, and strengthen a company. Everyone in a meeting should know how to manage conflict to make sure it is relevant and productive. All attendees need to know that a healthy debate is as much about listening as it is about presenting opinions. As long as the conflict has a purpose, and that purpose aligns with the purpose of the meeting, conflict in meetings should be embraced and not avoided.
Moderators should develop systems that enable each attendee to have a voice, to be heard, and to hear everyone else in the meeting. These systems can include Post-it notes on which attendees record thoughts and then share them with the group to online surveys or discussion boards.
The only exception to embracing conflict in meetings is when those in a position of seniority over others in the room have a disagreement. Just like parents shouldn’t argue in front of their kids, superiors should not argue in front of their subordinates.

  1. Unplug to Plug-In

Meeting attendees should leave their phones at the door, and laptops should only be allowed for note-taking. Harold has fun with this by putting free lunch on the line. If a moderator believes an attendee is using a laptop for something other than meeting notes, the moderator can call the attendee out, and if they’re right, the distracted attendee has to buy everyone in the meeting lunch. If the moderator is wrong, then the moderator has to buy everyone lunch.
Unplugging to plug in will ensure each person in the meeting is focused and making the most of their time.

  1. Be Radically Honest

We get what we give, and honesty is no exception.  “I want that same radical honesty with my employees,” Harold explained. “You can only receive it from them if you’re willing to give it to them, and that means pure radical transparency.”
Transparency is particularly important for those in a position of seniority, especially when it comes to not having all of the answers. As Harold pointed out, “If your team tries to see the leader as some deity or like a Wizard of Oz, at some point, they open the curtain, and they realize you’re not.” Avoid disappointment and distrust by conducting meetings with authenticity and honesty.

  1. Be Human

As a show of radical honesty, Harold concluded our meeting with some honesty about meetings of his own: “This is just what we do to make money. I think if we can have fun and laugh a little bit and treat people with respect and remember that everybody that we work with is struggling in some way…they will go through brick walls for us. I think that if we can just kind of surrender into the humanity of business a little bit and have some fun with it; we’re going to be way more successful than just drive, drive, drive all the time.”

  1. Read Harold’s Book

Meetings don’t have to suck, and my interview with Cameron Herold certainly did not. By reading Herold’s book and following these 14 key tenets to running an effective meeting, you can increase the return on the time and money you invest in meetings by running meetings that people want to attend rather than avoid.