What makes meetings productive? Dee Hansen has contributed to a three-part series on efficient and effective meetings. To read the previous entries, go to

Effective Meetings, Part 1—Time
Effective Meeings, Part 2—Objectives

A meeting that is effectively managed has a good flow and includes participation from all who wish to contribute. Here are some of Hansen’s process ideas to help you:

Encourage input from all participants.

• Ask for all participants to express their reactions to, opinions of, or perspectives about critical items.
• Clarify participant input so that the minutes accurately reflect discussion and all participants understand points made by paraphrasing or restating comments in your own words:
  
  • Are you asking … ?
  • Let me see if I understand your position. Are you saying … ?
  • Before we go on, can we clarify your point on … ?
  • Could you expand on your idea about … ?

Always summarize the results of the meeting.

• Accomplishments
• Items not agreed-upon, reasons for disagreements, and clarifications of process
• Assignments and deadlines.
   

Bottom line:  If participants leave a meeting knowing what has been completed and what remains to be done, as well as who is to do what by when, your meeting has been effective. Keep meetings short and on-task, and follow up by e-mail with a summary of the results.

MENC member Dee Hansen is chair of graduate studies in music education at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut.

--Ella Wilcox, January 20, 2010, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)