In-person meetings are an important part of creating a collaborative work environment. They’re opportunities for face-to-face interactions that help build connections and brainstorm ideas. In fact, in a laboratory experiment at Stanford, in-person teams created 15% to 20% more ideas than their online counterparts. Not all meetings are equal, though, so companies need to invest in the right practices and platforms to support collaboration and drive productivity.
What are best practices for improving in-person meetings?
While there’s research highlighting the value of in-person meetings, 71% of professionals feel that meetings overall are unproductive and inefficient, and 64% say they come at the expense of deep thinking, according to Harvard Business Review. It’s possible to put a dollar value on those sentiments, with unproductive meetings costing American firms an estimated $259 billion annually, according to the London School of Economics and Political Science.
By implementing the right policies and practices, organizations can help employees make the most of their time in meetings at the office.
Avoid meetings that could have been an email
When scheduling meetings, it’s important to remember that you don’t always need one. By first evaluating whether the information can be effectively communicated in an email, you can ensure that meetings are reserved for discussions that truly require real-time interaction and collaboration.
Schedule meetings when you need fast collaboration and instant feedback, including:
- Complex decision-making: Discuss and make decisions on complex issues that require input from multiple stakeholders
- Brainstorming sessions: Generate new ideas or solutions and benefit from the collective creativity of a group
- Strategic planning: Establishing long-term goals, strategies, or projects that involve multiple departments or teams
- Training and development: Conducting sessions, workshops, or development programs where interactive learning is essential
- Project kick-offs: Starting a new project to align everyone on the goals, roles, and timelines
- Emergencies: Dealing with urgent issues that require immediate attention and coordination.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Bringing together teams from different departments to collaborate and align on a specific task or project
Send emails when sharing or asking for specific pieces of information or completing administrative tasks, including:
- Routine updates: Sharing regular status updates, progress reports, or routine check-ins
- Scheduling options: Arranging times and locations for meetings, appointments, and events
- Quick questions: Asking simple questions that can be answered quickly and don’t require a lengthy discussion
- Feedback requests: Requesting feedback on a document, proposal, or idea that can be reviewed independently
- Follow-up notes: Circling back on action items, tasks, or decisions made in a previous meeting
Meetings are a powerful way for coworkers to connect and collaborate, but making every employee interaction a formal meeting makes everyone less productive.
Invite only the employees that need to be there
Carefully consider who needs to be in the meeting. Invite only those who can help decide, contribute, or give final approval for the meeting’s goal. When you invite only essential participants, you ensure that the meeting remains relevant and that everyone feels you’re valuing their time. You can update everyone else through email or a quick follow-up call, which is more efficient and less disruptive to their workflow. By minimizing the number of attendees, you can also reduce the complexity of the meeting, making it easier to stay on topic and reach decisions more quickly.
Communicate the meeting’s purpose and agenda early and clearly
Clearly communicate the meeting’s purpose and agenda, ensuring everyone arrives already knowing what’s expected of them. When employees know the meeting’s objectives and the topics, they can come prepared with relevant information, questions, and ideas. The focus here is to set up the meeting and all the employees for success. No one gets caught off guard or unprepared, and the meeting never gets derailed or slowed down with extra explanations.
A clear agenda also helps you manage the meeting’s duration, ensuring that it stays within the allocated time and that all key points are addressed without unnecessary delays.
Empower employees to politely decline invites
Encourage employees to decline meetings if their presence is not essential. Giving employees the autonomy to manage their schedules helps foster a culture of respect for time and productivity. It also helps reduce meeting fatigue, which can lead to better engagement and more effective participation in necessary meetings. When employees feel that their time is valued and they have the option to decline non-essential meetings, they are more likely to be productive and focused during the meetings they do attend. This can lead to a more dynamic and efficient workplace, where team members are better able to balance their responsibilities and contribute meaningfully to the organization’s goals. Empowering employees to make these decisions can also improve their job satisfaction and overall well-being.
Provide a follow-up summary
Send out a detailed follow-up summary to all participants and relevant stakeholders. clearly covering what participants discussed and decided. A good follow-up ensures everyone is on the same page and understands their responsibilities moving forward. When you send a follow-up summary, you reinforce the meeting’s outcomes and help prevent misunderstandings or miscommunications.
How do modern scheduling and room booking solutions improve in-person meetings?
Modern scheduling and room booking solutions offer a range of features that simplify the booking process and enhance the overall meeting experience, ensuring meetings are well-organized, efficient, and accessible. By automating many administrative tasks and providing real-time data, intelligent worktech helps teams stay focused and productive.
Support productivity with task-matched spaces
Leveraging the software, employees can search for and book meeting rooms based on specific criteria, including:
- Capacity
- Equipment
- Space type
- Department
Groups can ensure they get a space that meets their needs, whether it’s a small huddle room for a quick team check-in or a large conference room equipped with an advanced audio-visual setup for a client presentation. Because the software has detailed filters and search options, employees spend less time finding the right space — time they can invest in preparing for the meeting or other productive work. For example, a marketing team planning a brainstorming session can quickly find a room with a whiteboard and seating for 10 people, ensuring they have the necessary tools and space to be productive and creative.
Track and adjust for changes with automatic rebooking
When the team needs to find a new room because of maintenance, unexpected events, or last-minute changes, automatic rebooking helps organizations manage meeting room availability by finding and assigning alternative spaces, ensuring meetings can continue without disruption.
The system includes embedded AI that can suggest the most suitable alternative based on meeting requirements like room size, equipment, and location. By automating the administrative workload associated with manual rebooking, the platform ensures better utilization of available spaces. If a team books a small meeting room but later realizes they need a larger space to accommodate more participants, for example, the system can automatically rebook them into a more suitable room.
Eliminate wasted spaces with real-time occupancy sensors
With real-time occupancy sensors strategically placed in meeting rooms, employees can track availability to ensure rooms are only booked when they are needed, reducing the likelihood of double bookings or wasted space. Sensors also provide accurate data on room usage, which helps optimize space management and improve the overall efficiency of the workplace. For example, when a team schedules a meeting but fails to show up, the sensors detect the absence, and the room automatically becomes available on the room booking system.
Break down platform silos with seamless calendar integration
By providing a unified platform for scheduling and communication, the entire meeting process is streamlined, reducing administrative overhead and eliminating the risk of information falling through the cracks between platforms. The system sends automated notifications and reminders about meeting scheduling and changes, keeping everyone informed and prepared. If a meeting is rescheduled or canceled, for example, all the participants receive immediate updates, allowing them to adjust their plans accordingly. Real-time communication helps prevent no-shows and ensures that everyone is on the same page, enhancing the overall efficiency and productivity of the team. For example, if a project manager needs to move a meeting to a different time or room, the system will notify all attendees, and the new booking will be reflected in their calendars, which is particularly useful in fast-paced or hybrid work model environments where meeting details might change frequently.
Simplify scheduling and book the ideal room for any meeting
Modern scheduling and room booking software offers several key benefits that boost productivity for employees who come onsite for in-person meetings. Real-time occupancy sensors help prevent double bookings and reduce wasted space by accurately tracking room usage. Automatic rebooking features handle last-minute changes, ensuring that meetings can continue without disruption, while seamless integration with calendars and communication tools keeps all participants informed and prepared, reducing administrative overhead and the risk of information falling through the cracks between platforms. By automating tasks and providing real-time data, the software helps employees stay focused and productive, ultimately leading to more efficient and effective meetings.
By Erin Sevitz
As Vice President of Content and Customer Marketing at Eptura, Erin Sevitz oversees teams responsible for providing worktech insights and engaging 25 million Eptura users worldwide. With over 10 years in thought leadership on workplace management and the built environment, Erin brings deep industry knowledge to her role. Previously, she led communications for the International Facility Management Association, a global nonprofit dedicated to professional development for workplace strategists and building managers, and served as editor in chief for IFMA’s FMJ magazine.
