2020 has been a year of unprecedented change both in our personal lives and in our working lives. The business meetings which we so often rely upon to make decisions, launch projects, manage day-to-day operations and improve performance have changed too. Keep reading to discover how you can create dynamic meetings in 2020.
We researched how meetings have changed in 2020. Here's what we found:
- 76% of leading companies have dramatically reduced the length of their meetings.
- 75% reduction in leader input during meetings.
- 46% of companies have reduced the number of slides by 70-80%.
- 300% increase in time spent on action planning during meetings.
With so much change happening now is a great time to assess the effectiveness of all your meetings. Be critical. Ask yourself ‘do your meetings increase success or reduce it?’ Think about the effect your meetings are having on business priorities, ask yourself ‘Are your projects and your sales activity moving faster or slower?’ Talk to your team, take a look at what industry leaders are doing and be inspired!
Meetings are changing - are yours?
How have successful companies changed the way they run their meetings in 2020?
We analysed the fastest moving teams in a cross-section of FTSE 350 companies and rapidly expanding small companies to find out how their meetings had changed in 2020. Take a look at our findings below to discover how to have more dynamic meetings:
What we looked at:
- Meeting Cadence
- Meeting Content & Focus
- Activity in Meetings
- Using Different Techniques
What we learnt:
- Meetings are shorter by 70%
- Frequency is up by 2.4 times
- Reporting time has reduced by 45%
- Discussion time has increased by 400%
- Using different techniques has increased by 82%
STC Research Findings
1. Meeting Cadence: Frequency & length
Q. How has the frequency of your meetings changed?
Less often
Same
x up to 2
x up to 4
x more than 4
8%
12%
31%
36%
13%
Q. How has the length of your meetings changed?
Length of meeting
1 day
1/2 day
2-3 hours
1-2 hours
1 hour or less
Pre-Covid
9%
37%
46%
7%
1%
Post-Covid
0%
2%
22%
34%
42%
2. How meeting content and focus has changed
Q. By how much have the number of slides you show in a meeting increased or decreased?
- No. of Companies
Q. How has the emphasis of your meetings changed?
Before Covid
From reporting facts . . .
From looking back . . .
From leader input . . .
From multi-focus . . .
After Disruption
. . . to motivating action.
. . . to looking forwards.
. . . to team input.
. . . to a single focus.
3. How the activities in meetings have changed
Q. What activities did you do in your meetings before Covid? What activities have you done since the Covid disruption?
Before Covid
- Team reports
- Leader Input
- Discussion
- Action Planning
- Team reports
- Leader Input
- Discussion
- Action Planning
After Disruption
- Team reports
- Leader Input
- Discussion
- Action Planning
- Team reports
- Leader Input
- Discussion
- Action Planning
4. Using different techniques to create more dynamic meetings
Q. What different techniques have you been using in meetings in 2020? How much benefit have you found from adopting these new techniques?
Different Meeting Techniques Used
No. of Companies Using Them
% Benefit from Using these Techniques
Write the agenda as a list of questions not statements
12
95%
Circulate more of the information prior to the meeting
20
65%
Circulate pre-meeting pack at least 1 day earlier
15
70%
Changed format of pre-meeting pack to aid rapid understanding
10
75%
Use breakouts (phone) during VCs
5
80%
Have very short ‘touchpoint’ meetings between main meetings
22
85%
Think before the meeting about how to motivate the team
35
80%
Consciously make the meetings more fun & more focused on results
30
75%
Interested in making your team meetings more dynamic? Take a look at our management skills training courses today!