11 Tips On How To Engage Staff In Meetings

Meeting Insights
11 Tips On How To Engage Staff In Meetings

When it comes to conducting a productive meeting, engagement is key. If staff members are disengaged, they're likely to tune out, miss important points, and be less likely to take action on decisions made. On the other hand, engaged employees are more likely to be productive, share relevant information, and contribute to a positive overall meeting experience.

This blog post will share 11 tips to conduct more engaging staff meetings.

Start with a strong opening

The first few minutes of a meeting are critical in setting the tone and establishing engagement. Start strong by clearly stating the purpose of the meeting, reviewing the agenda, and getting everyone on board with the goal. This will help to set the tone for an engaging and productive discussion. Suppose your meeting agenda is to discuss a new product launch. In that case, ask everyone to share their thoughts on the product and what they think could make it successful.

Encourage participation

One of the best ways to engage staff in meetings is to encourage participation. This can be done by asking questions, soliciting feedback, and encouraging dialogue. For example, you might start a meeting by asking everyone to share their thoughts on a recent project. This will help get everyone engaged in the discussion and allow some great ideas to come to light. Regardless of your team meeting ideas, be sure to encourage participation from everyone in attendance. You can use some icebreaker questions to get things started.

Be more intentional

When engaging staff in meetings, it’s important to be more intentional. This means being purposeful with your agenda and ensuring that each item is relevant to the team. It also means preparing for each meeting and ensuring everyone is on the same page. This will help ensure that each meeting is productive and that staff members are engaged. As the team meeting leader, you are responsible for setting the tone for each meeting and ensuring that everyone can contribute. As staff meetings get more routine, it will be easier to be more intentional and engaged.

Define the intention of the meeting beforehand
Fig. 1. Define the intention of the meeting beforehand

Keep it interactive

To engage staff in meetings, it’s important to keep things interactive. This means incorporating activities and break-out sessions into the agenda. It also means encouraging team members to share their ideas and thoughts on each topic. When meetings are interactive, everyone is more likely to be engaged and involved. This will help to ensure that each meeting is productive and that everyone feels like they’ve contributed.

Make it relevant

Do you ever feel like you’re in a meeting, and it’s irrelevant to you? This is a common complaint among employees. To engage staff in meetings, it’s important to ensure that each meeting is relevant to everyone attending. This means tailoring the meeting agendas and discussion points to the team. It also means only inviting those who need to be there. When meetings are relevant, employees are more likely to be engaged and invested in the discussion. A successful team meeting is where everyone feels like they’ve learned something or that their time was well spent. In employee engagement surveys, this is one of the top factors that employees look for.

Utilize tools that allow for collaboration

Technology has come a long way in recent years, and many tools now allow for collaboration during meetings. Utilizing these tools can help to engage staff in meetings by making it easier for them to participate. For example, a tool like Microsoft Teams allows all attendees to see and hear each other. This makes it easier for everyone to follow along and contribute to the discussion. Many tools allow for real-time collaboration on documents, which can be helpful when brainstorming, or working on a project together. Utilizing these tools can help to create a more collaborative and engaging environment during meetings. As the staff meeting facilitator, you must ensure that these tools are utilized effectively for a successful meeting.

Encourage brainstorming and creativity

Encourage brainstorming during meetings
Fig. 2. Encourage brainstorming during meetings

Encouraging staff to brainstorm and be creative can help to engage them in meetings. This can be done by allowing time for open-ended discussion, encouraging group brainstorming or having attendees share their ideas in a non-threatening environment. By doing this, you can encourage staff to think outside the box and come up with new and innovative ideas. This can lead to more engaged meetings and a more productive workforce overall. In engaging staff meetings, it is essential to remember the importance of encouraging creativity. When the entire meeting is about presenting new ideas, it can be easy to lose sight of this. However, by taking the time to encourage creativity, you can ensure that your meetings are more engaging and productive.

Make use of visuals

Using visuals in meetings can help to engage staff and make the information more accessible. This can be done using PowerPoint presentations, whiteboards, or even handouts with pictures or diagrams. Using visuals can help make meetings more interesting and easier to understand. It can also help to ensure that staff is engaged in the meeting, as they will be able to see what is being discussed.

Following are some of the things to keep in mind when using visuals in meetings:

1. Make sure that the visuals are clear and easy to understand. This means using simple language and avoiding jargon.

2. Use visuals that are relevant to the topic of the meeting. It will help to engage staff in the discussion.

3. Make sure that the visuals are well-organized.

4. Use visually appealing visuals. This will help to keep staff engaged in the meeting.

5. Make sure that the visuals are accessible to all staff.

6. Use visuals that are easy to update.

7. Use visuals that can be reused.

Keep it organized

An organized meeting will help to ensure that staff is engaged in the discussion. This means having a clear agenda, keeping to time limits, and ensuring that all materials are well prepared. It is also important to have a designated meeting space that is comfortable and conducive to productive discussions. Suppose during your meeting you want to brainstorm ideas for a new project. In that case, it is helpful to have a whiteboard or flipchart to write down ideas as they are generated.

Designate specific roles for all team members

Assign a role to each team member
Fig. 3. Assign a role to each team member

When all team members know their specific roles in a meeting, it helps to ensure that the meeting is focused and productive. For example, you may designate one person as the scribe responsible for taking notes during the meeting. Another team member may be responsible for keeping time and ensuring that the discussion stays on track. And still, another team member may be responsible for generating ideas and leading the brainstorming session. By clearly defining roles, you can help ensure that everyone in the meeting knows their responsibilities and how they can contribute to the discussion.

Use Eric.ai to engage staff in meetings

Eric.ai is a powerful artificial intelligence tool that can be used to get meeting summaries and smartly record audio in real-time. With Eric.ai, you can get the most out of your meetings and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Take notes automatically

Gone are the days of manually taking notes and getting distracted during meetings. With Eric.ai, you can automatically generate and update meeting summaries. This way, you can focus on participating in the meeting and not worry about missing anything important. For your future meetings, have Eric join to get notes about what topics were discussed, decisions that were made, and action items that need to be tackled.

Track everyone’s participation

Have you ever been in a meeting where it feels like some people are not heard? Well, with Eric.ai you can see who is participating and who has not yet spoken. This way, you can address the issue head-on and make sure that everyone is engaged in the meeting and that all voices are heard.

Get more out of your meetings

With Eric.ai, you can ensure that everyone is engaged in the meeting by taking their hands off notetaking tasks. Having an AI meeting assistant assures you that all important information is captured. This way, you can ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that all decisions are made with the input of all stakeholders. With everyone's attention directed to the meeting, you can engage employees better, get meeting summaries without worry, make real-time decisions and have them accurately recorded.

Playback meeting audio and video

Eric.ai can automatically capture meeting audio and video so you can review the meeting later or share it with others who cannot attend. With its "Quick View" feature, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and that no important information is missed.

Share meeting minutes and next steps

After the meeting, Eric.ai can generate meeting minutes and action items and share them with all meeting participants. This way, everyone knows what needs to be done and can get started immediately.

Organize a meeting with tags

With Eric.ai, you can organize your meeting with tags so that you can easily find and review specific topics later. This way, you can ensure that all important information is captured and organized and that you can quickly find what you're looking for later. Suppose you're in a meeting discussing product features. You can tag the meeting with "product features" to review all discussion points later.

Real-time transcription

Eric.ai provides a real-time transcription of your meetings so that you can easily follow along and capture all important information. This way, you can be sure that you get everything important and that all meeting notes are captured accurately.

So, last, team meetings are important to attend, as it benefits the team in different ways. Make sure to use Eric.ai for your next meeting to get the most out of it!

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