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2. Individual exercise
 What was the most effective meeting you
have ever lead or attended?
 Why? What sets it apart?
• What happened before the meeting?
• During the meeting?
• After the meeting?
 What was your worst meeting?
 Why? Describe behaviors, settings, etc.
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3. How do we define “meeting”
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1. An act or process of coming together as an
assembly for a common purpose.
2. A meeting is a gathering of two or more people
that has been convened for the purpose of
achieving a common goal through verbal
interaction, such as sharing information or
reaching agreement.

4. There are many different
types of meetings
Ad Hoc Issues Status Working Strategic
A short
conversation
with a few
people in a
hallway or over
coffee
A possibly
controversial
meeting with a
partner, client,
or even patient
to discuss
multiple
options
Reporting up
to senior staff
or a different
group that you
are
collaborating
Sitting in a
conference
room with co-
workers to
understand
status, solve
problems, or
make
decisions
Gathering
large groups
offsite for
several days
on a variety of
topics
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5. Imagine
no more meetings
 How much time would you have?
 How productive would you be?
 Seriously, would you be more productive?
 What do you lose to meetings, especially
to bad meetings?
 What do you gain from the
best meetings?
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6. There is a more effective,
more productive way to meet
 Do more work up front
 Get the right people in the room
 Gather the right materials
 pre-wire any key decisions
 In the meeting focus
 Stop long tangents
 Avoid solving
 Assign Actions
 Follow up on the assignments
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It looks like a bow tie

7. The Bowtie Meeting
Effective Meetings start in
advance of the actual
start time. Agendas,
attendees, agreements
and more can all be
prepared in advance to
improve the success of
the time together
Stick to the agenda. Ask
questions to keep
participants focused on
the purpose of the
meeting
Most results are realized
after the meeting. Assign
actions in the meeting,
move forward with the
agenda and hold people
accountable afterward
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Prepare
30% 40% 30%*
Conduct
Meeting Follow-up
Participate
* Percentages vary by meeting type,
frequency and duration

8. Meeting Scorecard!
1 Did the meeting start on time?
2 Were the right people present in the right number?
3 Was a standing agenda followed?
4 Was the Action Log reviewed?
5 Were participants prepared?
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Was participant attention focused?
(no sidebar conversations or cell phones)?
7 Leader managed time; people stuck to topic?
8 Open and honest conversation?
9 Issues constructively challenged?
10 Did the meeting end on time?
Total Score
Yes 2
Somewhat 1
No 0

9. When asked to conduct
a meeting, first ask…
 How else could the result be accomplished?
 Look at it critically
 Respect your time; respect their time
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10. Preparing the Bowtie Meeting
 Agreement on objectives with the meeting sponsor
 Send the agenda and materials in advance
 Clarify why we are meeting and what will we accomplish?
 Avoid negative surprises
 Meet in advance with key stakeholders to present relevant
information that might startle them (aka, pre-wiring a meeting)
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Prepare Follow-up
Participate
Conduct
Meeting

11. Plan your meetings well using
an agenda as your roadmap
1. Clarify the purpose
2. Invite (just) the right
participants
3. Develop a specific
agenda
4. Prepare and share
materials in advance
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12. Conduct a Bow-tie Meeting
Most people are familiar with running a
meeting, but the Bow-tie format focuses
more on results and capturing actions to
complete after the meeting ends
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Prepare
Conduct
Meeting Follow-up
Participate

13. A strong agenda makes
conducting easy
 Effective agendas offer
clear durations for
topics and activities
 Assign specific roles
 A timekeeper
 A scribe or note keeper
 Respect people’s time
 Focus on Results
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14. Results ≠ Time
 Not all meetings need to be 60 minutes
 Just because digital calendars default to 30-
minute increments
 One week, ask for a 30 minute meeting and
see what is different
 Conversations need to lead to results
 If people want to “catch-up” schedule a
separate, more informal session such as a
shared lunch
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15. Meeting guidelines help set
standards for behaviors
 Be prepared; avoid reading in the meeting
 Focus on the task at hand
 1 conversation at a time
 Minimize gadgets and multi-tasking
 5-mintue rule if a topics runs too long
 Be civil
 Different opinions must be heard
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16. Look for data, not assertions
 Ask people, “How do you know?”
 Assertion - “That will never work.”
 Question - “How do you know?”
 You may have no data or suspect data
 Use the meeting to define what data is
needed and who can gather and validate
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17. Decide how to decide
 Most meetings require multiple
participants to come to agreement in the
following ways
 Consensus – Most agree
 Vote – Simple majority
 Consult – listen, then a subset decides
 Command – decisions do not involve others
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18. 2 tools for capture and
keeping on track
 Set time limits for agenda items
and stick to them; when topics run long,
stop conversation and capture them on…
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Parking Lot
Tangential topics
Lengthy discussions
Not on the agenda
Action Log
Who does what by when
Action log reviews
should be an agenda
item

19. The outcome of the meeting is
often realized after the event
 Effective meetings capture actions and
items to process after people leave the
room; now the real work is accomplished
 Keep clear, simple meeting notes
 Not a verbatim report, just decisions, actions
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Prepare Follow-up
Conduct
Meeting
Participate

20. You can have a positive influence
in every meeting you attend
 Stay involved
 Don’t check-out or try to multitask
 Ask questions that bring the group back on task
 Guide teams to resolve issues and keep moving
forward
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Prepare
Conduct
Meeting Follow-up
Participate

21. Participate well
 Listen, support, contribute
 Keep the meeting focused and on track
 “How are we doing on our agenda?”
 “Is there an action we should capture?”
 “Is this something we should discuss offline?”
 Say “and” more than you say “but”
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22. Putting it into practice
 What will you do differently tomorrow?
 How will you improve your meetings in
three weeks? In three months?
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23. Contact Us
Discover how your organization can
run more effective meetings today by
contacting Line of Sight.
Get started today!
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