Meeting management: how to exploit the potential of formal meetings

Meeting management refers to the strategic handling of recurring meetings, such as management, board or supervisory board meetings.

How efficiently these processes are designed depends on various criteria relating to the preparation, implementation and follow-up of these mostly formal meetings. As a result, it is worth consciously designing these three steps and, if necessary, tweaking individual aspects in order to exploit the full potential of management work and use the time of those involved as efficiently as possible.

Strategic preparation of the meeting

The success of a meeting is already influenced by this first phase, as meeting management begins with defining the framework conditions in advance.

This includes selecting the participants and inviting them digitally. This raises the following questions: Who is an integral part of this type of meeting? Who else can or should contribute to the planned content? Sometimes certain agenda items require unscheduled guests from within or outside the company. All participants should be informed of any guests and the date should be entered digitally in the calendars of those invited. The details are either sent as a file or saved directly in the users' calendars. When using Apollo.ai, all these points can be covered directly via the software.

Once the ideal line-up has been found, the agenda can be set - this can also be done directly via the tool. It is advisable to define not only the content of each agenda item, but also the planned length per topic in minutes and record this in the system - this is the basis for time management during the meeting, where this information is used. Before the agenda is sent out, further information, such as attachments that the participants need to prepare, can be stored. Any notes can also be entered and saved directly in the system.

The last step of this first phase is the finalization of the documents that are needed during the meeting. This can either be coordinated by one person or completed directly in the software by the persons responsible.  

Running the meeting efficiently

Successful meeting management also includes the successful running of the meeting itself - there should be a designated person who ensures that the meeting starts on time, for example. Any delay costs valuable resources and usually has a negative impact on the planned time frame.

If the preparation phase has been done well, it should then be easy to move forward step by step using the agenda. An integrated timer helps to keep an eye on the time available. Tip: A fixed agenda item "Any other business" is a good way to cover spontaneously arising content or to serve as a time buffer. The meeting should also end on time - if this is not possible for any reason, those present should be asked to agree to the additional time.

The success of meeting management also depends on the quality of the transcript. Good preparation and the use of a tool such as Apollo.ai, in which the templates and agenda items are already stored, is worthwhile here. These minutes contain all the important information about the meeting as well as the results for each agenda item. The decisions and todos resulting from the meeting can either be recorded in this document or - even better - separately. Apollo.ai can provide ideal support here. Minutes, todos and decisions are archived centrally in one place and can be easily retrieved later.

The person taking the minutes should be different from the person responsible for meeting management and should have a high level of comprehension and concentration. The ability to type quickly on a PC is now also a basic requirement for taking meeting minutes.

The follow-up to the meeting

The third step in meeting management is the follow-up to the meeting. The minutes are usually revised and agreed with the responsible managers. The approved document is sent to the participants and other people involved and stored in a digital, secure location where it can be easily retrieved later. With Apollo.ai, minutes can be retrieved with just a few clicks using the chronological listing or real-time search.

Meetings have a lasting effect in this final step, which is often neglected in the hectic pace of everyday work. During the meeting, various decisions are made and measures agreed. In order to systematically track their implementation, they should not only be recorded with all details, responsibilities and deadlines, but above all tracked until completion. With Apollo.ai, this tracking takes place in the form of automatic status reports that can be set individually for each user.

Digitize session management with Apollo.ai

With Apollo.ai, meeting management can be handled centrally via a secure digital platform - from the preparation and execution to the follow-up of the meeting.

The practical functions include, for example

• Storing the appointment with all details in the system
• inviting and reminding participants
• Controlling the meeting via the software
• Time management with the integrated timer
• Live logging in the platform
• Separate recording of measures and resolutions
• Tracking the implementation
• Processing of digital circular resolutions and much more.