Course introduction
Book a one-day in-house training course run at your premises or a venue of your choice. Suitable for groups of 4-12 delegates. All course content can be tailored to your business requirements following an introductory discussion with our experienced facilitator. Our fee includes course preparation, delivery and delegate training material, and delegates receive a course certificate upon completing the training. Price £1530.00 + VAT.
Our Running Effective Meetings course is designed to help business people run meetings that deliver effective results and with the full engagement of those involved.
The course aims to develop knowledge and skills in running effective meetings in a typical work environment. The majority of the course focuses on the typical face-to-face meeting but the training also focusses on conducting meetings online via video conferencing tools. To find out more, book online today!
Course overview
The course covers the importance of good preparation, including the aims and objectives of the meeting as well as the logistics necessary to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly and to time. These might include a consideration of who needs to be invited (and why they need to be there) as well as the preparation of an agenda which should be relevant to anyone invited to the meeting.
Many meetings fail because the original objective is lost sight of and discussions have been allowed to develop that are not aligned with the original aims. This is compounded if those present no longer feel that they have a stake in what is being discussed and become disengaged from the meeting. The course looks at techniques for ensuring that all participants remain engaged during the meeting and also for keeping to the agenda.
All meetings should have a tangible ‘output’, whether that be an improved awareness amongst the attendees of a particular issue for example, or perhaps a list of actions. Post-meeting activity is therefore as important as the meeting itself, and the course addresses several processes to help a meeting organiser greatly improve the output of a meeting.
Delegates will also learn about different types of ‘on-line meeting’ including using video-conferencing tools such as Zoom, webinars and Microsoft Teams. They will also gain an appreciation of when it is appropriate to use such tools and when it is not.
Course objectives
At the end of this course, delegates will have developed the knowledge and skills to lead an effective meeting. They will:
- Have sufficient information to prepare, lead and review a successful meeting;
- Be able to produce an action plan to transfer identified skills and techniques into the workplace;
- Have developed knowledge and basic skills in using video conferencing tools; and
- Know when to use and not to use video conferencing.
Typical Course outline
Module 1
- Why do we have meetings?
Module 2
What to do before a meeting
- Prepare the aims and objectives
- Create an agenda
- Allotting appropriate time to agenda actions
- Plan all logistics
Module 3
What to do during a meeting
- Responsibilities of the meeting Chairperson
- Opening the meeting
- Keeping discussion focused
- Recording minutes and actions
- Encouraging participation
- Agreeing an action plan
Module 4
What to do after a meeting
- Meeting minutes
- Check for actions
- Reviewing the meeting against the original objectives
Module 5
Using video conferencing
- When it’s appropriate
- Why online meetings need to be different to face-to-face meetings
- How to use the common tools (e.g. Zoom, Webinar and Teams)
Module 6
Dealing with common meeting problems
- Finishing on time
- Making decisions
- Dominant or silent participants
- Lack of follow-through on actions
Running Effective Meetings – course benefits
As suggested in the Harvard Business Review article “How to Run a Meeting” by Antony Jay, a well-run meeting is a powerful medium for sharing ideas and information, building a level of shared responsibility and encouraging collaboration. Our course will help delegates to develop techniques for ensuring that their meetings deliver these types of benefits whilst avoiding the pitfalls which can lead to tiresome, unproductive meetings which waste everyone’s time.
The standard course covers 6 comprehensive modules, covering meeting planning and preparation, execution of the meeting, and post-meeting follow-up. The modules include a section on using video conferencing effectively. By the end of the course, each delegate should:
- Understand how to plan and prepare for a meeting;
- Know how to organise appropriate logistics;
- Be able to define responsibilities for meeting attendees;
- Know how to open the meeting;
- Be able to control the meeting and keep to the agenda;
- Know how to ensure full participation and reduce the impact of dominant attendees;
- Know how to keep useful records including actions;
- Be able to take appropriate follow-up action; and
- Be able to run a basic video conference meeting.
Who is this course suitable for?
The Running Effective Meetings training course is suitable for anyone with responsibility for organising and/or leading a meeting, either in face-to-face or online format. Delegates on this course may also find it useful to attend our Presentation Skills course and our Advanced Communication Skills course as part of a personal development programme.
Related courses
Presentation Skills
Our Presentation Skills training course is designed for anyone with responsibility for delivering a presentation to a large or small group of people. Delegates typically come from a wide range of business disciplines including Sales, Marketing, Product Design and Finance.
The course is normally run at three locations around the UK (London, Birmingham and Manchester) but can also be run at your business premises.
The Presentation Skills training course is highly practical and interactive and focuses on giving delegates the opportunity to build an attractive presentation that meets their own particular aims and deliver it to an audience, all in a safe environment.
Emphasis is placed on techniques for removing as much ‘fear’ as possible from the process of presenting and public speaking. The course employs video recording which is used to provide feedback to each individual which helps to speed-up the learning process.
Advanced Communication Skills
Our Advanced Communication Skills training course is a practical one-day course designed to help business people improve their effectiveness through enhanced communication skills.
The course uses the Social Style profiling tool from the TRACOM Group, which is one of the most widely used profiling tools of its kind in the world. This creates a new way of looking at people by focusing on their observable behaviour in order to develop an effective influencing strategy. Used by a wide range of large organisations and professional consultancies it will change the way that your team interact with their internal staff or external customers.
We run these advanced sales training courses at venues across the UK. We can also hold them at your offices, if required. We can even tailor the course content to meet your specific needs.
Locations
We run our training programmes throughout the UK and occasionally overseas. Our standard public ‘open’ courses are run in major UK cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham and Edinburgh.
We normally restrict our courses to 12 delegates as this allows for maximum individual attention and gives course delegates a better chance of achieving their objectives. However, for some in-house courses it is practical to accommodate larger numbers, so please ask if in doubt.