There have been years of research dedicated to the preparation and execution of successful meetings. But how often have we heard the words, “boring!” or “useless” when evaluating the seemingly endless meetings we are invited/compelled to attend? We’re Vincentians — we want to get to work!

But good planning is essential to good works that have a lasting effect. Good planning is essential to systemic change. And good planning means good meetings. Here’s something to supplement the systemic change toolkits.

Now, with the dawn of online meetings, we have the possibility to save time and money while we plan well. Ken Norton, in “Meetings That Don’t Suck” in the online journal TechCrunch argues for liniting meetings that are “… essential and had an owner and the right attendees.” He identifies the key elements for traditional meetings. Couldn’t they be applied to online meetings as well?

• Kill the status meeting,
• Hold one-on-one meetings sacred,
• Every meeting must have a single owner,
• Your calendar doesn’t make you important,
• Calendars shouldn’t postpone decisions,
• Keep meetings small,
• Consider the opportunity cost of every meeting,
• Treat other people’s calendars as a scarce resource,
• Escalate, don’t undermine,
• If the meeting is over, end the meeting,
• Declare calendar bankruptcy.

Do you have something to add to this list? Put it in the comments. And when you’re holding an online meeting on Skype, or Google Hangouts-on-Air, or Oovoo, take note of the strategies that actually help the process.