Meetings happen for two reasons:

1. You want to present or discuss something with a few people.
2. Somebody thinks inviting you to a conference/meeting is a good idea.

You are the initiator

Why does this meeting have to take place ?
Rule 1: In 99% of the cases, a meeting takes more working hours than the time preallocated to it.

Rule 2: The meeting is mainly for the tasks and decisions you cannot fulfill alone.

TODO list:

1. Invite people whose work is directly related to your meeting's key topic. How to sort participants? “Will I cancel this meeting if that person cannot participate?”
2. Prepare and share the agenda in advance. People must understand why they should be there and what you will expect from them.
3. Describe the goal and the expected results so participants can prioritize the information they get during the meeting.
4. Plan the timeslots based on the agenda and the number of participants. If you have twenty people for a 30 minutes meeting, then everyone would have a 90 seconds timeslot. Just remember this fact.

You are invited

1. Ask in advance for the agenda and the goal of that session if this info is missing
2. Clarify what would happen if you could not join, and then decide on joining the meeting (or not)
3. prepare your communication plan based on the timeslot you have.
4. Investigate the documentation available on the topic so you can have some background and ask the right questions.

Conduction

So, start with the story that will help your audience dive into the right atmosphere.

How to keep people involved?

• Ask people to highlight the aspects they know better than you.
• Ask people to express their expectations about the next presentation slide.
• Use questions that can be answered with a Yes/No or only a few words.
• If it's an online meeting, ask people to turn on their camera if possible.

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