Author: Chris Fenning
_Chris Fenning_
Reading time: 20 minutes
Synopsis
Effective Meetings (2025) is a useful book about making meetings shorter, clearer, and more helpful – whether you lead them or just take part. It gives simple tips to stop wasting time, focus better, and turn talks into real results. Step by step, it shows you how to plan, run, and finish meetings that actually work.
What will you get? Fewer meetings, better results, and more time for your important work.
Let’s be honest – we all know meetings that should have been an email. Almost half of workers say meetings make them less useful. And when you think about the time, energy, and money spent, a bad meeting can cost a lot quickly.
Sure, computer tools can help with notes and reminders. But they can’t tell you why you are meeting, pick the right people, or speak up when things go wrong. You still need to do these things. The good news is that with a few simple habits, you can make meetings shorter, clearer, and more helpful – whether you lead or just attend.
In this Blink, you’ll learn how to decide your topic, purpose, and what you want to achieve before sending an invite. You’ll discover how to get the right people, plan good activities, and pick a time and place that fit the work. When the meeting starts, you’ll know how to stay on topic, finish clearly, and follow up quickly. And along the way, you’ll also pick up clever ways for online meetings, update meetings, and even meetings you don’t want to go to.
Let’s get started.
Blink 1 – Decide your topic, purpose, and what you want to achieve before the invite
That moment when you’re sitting there thinking, “Why are we even here?” is usually a clear sign that someone didn’t prepare.
To stop wasting everyone’s time, there are seven things you need to decide before sending out a meeting invitation: Topic, Purpose, Output, Activities, People, Duration, Location, and the Invitation itself.
Let’s start with the basics. What’s the Topic? What’s the Purpose? And what output are you trying to achieve? The Topic is the main thing you’ll be talking about. The Purpose explains why you’re meeting – it should lead to action, like making a decision or solving a problem. And the Output is what you’ll finish with: a plan, a list of next steps, or a clear decision. If you can’t say these three in one sentence each, don’t call a meeting. If your only goal is to share information, maybe an email is enough.
However, you can also have too much to talk about. Meetings with many topics often lose focus. The first item often takes over and pushes others away. So decide what is most important: start with the topic that is most urgent or important to many people. Continue with the same idea for other topics. You might not cover everything, but the most important work will get done.
Next, choose your Activities – the ways to make the meeting move forward – like talks, ways to make decisions, or surveys. Choose activities that help you reach your goal. If your goal is to make a decision, make sure there’s time to talk and check things before voting. Also think about the tools you’ll need, especially if some people are not in the room. Make sure every person can take part fully.
Now, think about the People. Only invite those who help reach the meeting’s goal or truly need to know the result. Extra people mean more cost, weaken focus, and slow everything down. With more than seven people, making decisions becomes harder. So before you send that invitation, ask yourself: Does this person bring important knowledge, power to decide, or help get the result? For important meetings, check with key People beforehand that the Topic, Purpose, and People are clear and correct.
Make sure Activities and People actually fit. For example, if you’re doing open brainstorming, do not include senior leaders who might stop honest ideas. If someone only needs to approve the final result, they don’t need to attend. Decide who will take notes, how much detail is needed, and whether you’ll use auto-notes or a recording.
Set the right Duration by starting from your activities and going backward. Make a simple plan and guess how much time each part will take. Include time for introductions, moving from one part to another, and finishing. Then choose the shortest time that makes sense but still allows for unexpected questions or longer talks.
Pick a Location that helps with the work. If you’re voting with physical sticky notes, you need everyone in the room. For online and in-person meetings, make sure the technology lets everyone take part equally.
Finally, send a clear, short Invitation. In the subject line and message, include the Topic, Purpose, Output, and any preparation needed. Unclear invitations mean fewer people come, cause confusion, and waste time. Don’t think people will read carefully – follow up with key participants if needed. If you receive an unclear invitation you didn’t organize, ask for the Topic, Purpose, and Output, or say no with a short reason. A strong invitation tells people what to expect and helps everyone come ready to help.
Blink 2 – Start your meeting with topic, purpose, and output
Once your meeting is planned, the next step is starting it well – and that only takes two minutes. There are two things to do: introduce the meeting and check with the people taking part.
Begin by saying the Topic, Purpose, and Output (TPO), along with how long the meeting will take. If you’ve written a clear invitation, you already have everything necessary for this introduction. Read it out or say it in a few words. Use the invitation’s TPO as your first plan. If you need a formal plan, list each topic with its Purpose, Output, and who leads it. Or, make each item a question and ask for more ideas beforehand. And if the meeting’s reason isn’t clear, add one sentence explaining why it matters to the people in the room.
For meetings with many topics, start by saying how many things you will talk about and what each one is for. Then introduce each topic with its own TPO before moving into discussion. Save time by not doing the “go around the table” part. Instead, quickly say who’s in the room, their job, and why they’re there.
Plan your meeting so some people, called partial participants – those who only need to be there for certain parts – can leave after they have helped. Tell them this at the beginning. If they can’t leave, keep sections not about them short. Follow the inverse time rule: the fewer people a topic involves, the less time you spend on it.
Always check with people before you start talking in detail. Ask if everyone understands the Purpose and Output, and confirm you have the right people. If someone isn’t needed, let them leave. If extra people join, check if they are important and ask people who are not needed to step out. If the meeting has many topics, ask whether the planned order makes sense. As a participant, if it’s not clear after a few minutes, ask for the specific Purpose and what the meeting wants to achieve.
Finally, if someone arrives late, don’t stop the meeting – keep going, and quickly say what has happened during a short break. If a key person is missing, check whether they’re joining, and decide whether to wait, change the plan, or move ahead and make final decisions later. If you must wait, use those minutes to talk and get to know the people already in the room.
Blink 3 – During meetings, stay on track, keep time, and guide to the goal
“We left without covering the upgrade plan.” That’s how software developer Sam described a recent meeting – one that started badly and never got back on track. No one guided the talk. The result? An hour wasted and another future meeting needed.
Once a meeting begins, your focus should be on two things: keeping time and moving towards the goal you all agreed on. At every stage, ask: Are we getting closer to our goal, and are we doing it fast enough?
Start by saying the Output and the time you have – then check both as you go. At regular times to check, see how much time has passed and how much is left to do. If you’re behind, change things – go faster, stop talking about unrelated things, or change what is important. Share time updates to make sure everyone is on the same page. In meetings with many topics, do this for each item, ending each section with a summary of important decisions, actions, and next steps.
When talks go on for too long, a simple way to fix it helps: say the Output again, show what is missing, suggest a solution, and check if everyone agrees. If a better topic comes up during the meeting, you can change the goal – just make that decision clear and decide what happens to the original purpose.
Distractions will happen. Some slow things down – like long stories, saying the same things many times, or going too deep into small technical parts. Others take the meeting completely off topic. Your job is to check if the talk is still helping to reach the main goal. If not, gently bring people back, or set the issue aside as a task for someone with a deadline. If people lose interest, try asking quiet people to speak, changing activities, or asking for quick opinions. In creative work, let people explore more ideas while still tracking time and progress.
Things that stop the meeting also happen. Stop people who interrupt often by speaking up early and guiding them back kindly but strongly. Gently stop people who talk too much and give quieter people a chance to speak. If there’s a disagreement, stay neutral, ask for polite ideas, check if they are important, and offer a way to manage it. If needed, talk about it later, not in the meeting.
And don’t forget to take notes. Assign someone, or use a tool, and focus on what matters: decisions, actions, open questions, and next steps. You don’t need every word written down – but you always need a clear record of what was decided.
Blink 4 – Ending on time with a finish shows respect and care
“Anything else?” These two simple words, said at the end of a meeting that seemed finished, can change a good finish into thirty more minutes on a new topic. It’s one of the quickest ways to ruin a meeting that was going well.
A strong finish is just as important as a strong start. Without one, even a good meeting can leave people confused, upset, or late. That’s why you should always save the last five minutes – longer if the meeting is over an hour – for a clear, organised finish.
The finish doesn’t need to be complicated. First, make sure you’ve actually left time for it. Then follow six simple steps. Start by saying the main points again. Then, check if the meeting reached its goal. Repeat any decisions made and things to do that were agreed – be specific about who’s doing what and by when. Next, state what will happen after the meeting, apart from personal tasks. If the Output isn’t complete, explain how and when it will be. Then thank everyone for their time and help.
Done correctly, these final steps take just a few minutes. But if you let a new, unplanned topic takes over at the last minute, those minutes disappear. Even worse, rushing the finish or skipping it entirely can harm your trust and cause tasks to be missed or decisions forgotten.
Equally important: end on time. This depends on a clear Purpose, the right People and Activities, keeping focus and checking the time regularly, and a saved finish time. Going over time messes up your plan, makes everyone else late, and creates bad feelings. It’s also unfair, harms your good name, and makes lateness normal. You also can’t really complain when others go over time.
So, if time’s almost up but talk is still going, speak up. A simple “Let’s finish so we can end on time” usually works. And if you ever have to choose between finishing the Output or finishing on time, choose time – unless it’s very important and everyone agrees to stay. Don’t think your meeting is more important than what others have planned next.
Ending on time and clearly makes people understand what was done, what’s next, and happy they came.
Blink 5 – After meetings, share notes and results then follow up
After a two-hour design check, the team had agreed on many product changes and felt sure they could finish by the strict deadline. But two days later, no one had the list of updates. The person taking notes was on holiday – and the work stopped. It’s a perfect example of how a meeting can lose its value if you don’t do things after it.
Your work doesn’t stop when the clock does. To make a meeting useful, you need to share the Output and notes, then follow up on tasks and next steps. Sharing is important because decisions and plans are not useful if people who need them don’t get them. Notes make sure everyone is responsible and stop confusion about tasks.
Send the Output and notes to people who came – and anyone else it affects – within an hour if you can. Make them short and useful. Confirm the final goal, list what was talked about, add or link any papers, and clearly write down questions, actions, and decisions. Every task needs someone to do it and a time to finish it. Skip this only in rare cases – celebrations, no results you can act on, goals reached during the meeting, or private meetings.
Once that’s done, follow up. Check progress on tasks, ask again about questions that were not answered, and send short reminders or updates. And be sure to change how you speak for different people – what works for a colleague might not work for a boss.
When you share clearly and follow up often, you make sure people are responsible and keep things moving. The meeting’s results get used, and your team goes forward instead of going around in circles.
Blink 6 – Special types of meetings and finding the right balance
There are two types of meetings that need special attention: online/in-person meetings, and update meetings.
In online or in-person meetings, distractions are everywhere, so be very clear about the Topic, Purpose, and Output. Watch people’s screens for signs they are losing focus. Use the tools your online platform has – like polls, separate rooms, shared documents, and whiteboards – to keep people taking part. Be ready with technology: learn how to use it, keep a short guide for problems, and do quick checks before important calls – especially after updates.
Let some people leave once their item is done. Having cameras on helps people feel more present. But there are clear exceptions – for people taking part for only some time, private places, different time zones, bad internet, and religious or cultural reasons. Keep Activities easy for everyone to use. Shorten online sessions, and if it’s longer than an hour, have a 10-minute break every hour.
Some meetings are just not very popular – like the update meeting. Too often, they’re long, unclear, and not important for most people there. So start by asking: Does this really need to be a meeting? If the answer is yes, say exactly what information you need and use a simple plan: show the topics first, ask for the leader’s main points, then start with things that affect everyone.
Collect updates and how they affect things, beforehand. Limit each person to three points, ordered by how many people they affect and how important they are. Ask people to explain what happens in terms of work done and results, not difficult words. And use the inverse-time rule: the fewer people a topic affects, the less time it gets. Small, two-minute problems can be fixed right away. Anything else should become a task and be removed from the meeting plan.
Finally, remember this: good meetings find the right balance between rules and being able to change things. Too much control makes you a strict boss. Too little control makes you just watch chaos. Change how you lead based on the situation, the people, and the goal. You don’t need to follow the plan too strictly, but you do need to keep the group focused on reaching the goal. That balance makes meetings shorter, clearer, less annoying and – simply – works well.
Final summary
In this Blink to Effective Meetings by Chris Fenning, you’ve learned how to make meetings shorter, clearer, and more helpful. That starts with one simple rule: don’t call a meeting unless you can clearly say what the topic is, why you are meeting, and what you want to achieve. From there, invite only the people who truly need to be there, choose activities that fit your goal, and send a clear, focused invitation.
Opening your meeting with a quick reminder of the plan helps show the way from the start. Keep the group on track by watching the time, guiding towards results, and dealing with things that pull you off track as they come up. Always finish with a short wrap-up that says what was decided, what to do next, and who will do it. And afterward, be sure to follow up quickly to make sure people are responsible and keep things moving.
When you use these habits often, meetings stop taking your time and start getting results. That’s the real good part of having good meetings.
Okay, that’s it for this Blink. We hope you enjoyed it. If you can, please take the time to leave us a rating – we always like to hear what you think. See you in the next Blink.
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