Many times, clients and friends keep asking me whether the meetings conducted are effective. Are we able to implement what we want to by conducting the meeting online? While meeting personally, it is very common to find an impressive chairperson of the meeting would be able to get things done much more easily than others who are not so comfortable handling people.

What is an effective meeting? When does a meeting become an effective meeting?

An effective meeting is the one that achieves its objectives. In order to achieve the objectives of the meeting, the meeting should have pre-set objectives and there should be clarity in the objectives set. It is known that the objectives if they are not set properly and if they are not made clear, and then there is always a possibility that you will lose out on achieving the objectives of the meeting. It is therefore, very important for the meeting to know the objectives of the meeting clearly.

Secondly, even if the objectives are known, it is also important to have the right kind of people who can make the decisions paramount to reaching the objective. Whether it be a sales meeting or an important board meeting, there should be people who are capable of taking decisions or should be in a position where they could help people take decisions. Now whether it is a physical meeting or an online one, you need meet these criterion if your meeting has to be successful.

In the case of online meetings, it is much more easier to achieve these requirements of an effective meeting. You can ensure that the people who are in the line of decision making are present. The ease with which the timings of the meetings could be altered or the marginal expense that would be incurred in organizing such meetings online, would ensure that the you can have any number of meetings at any point in time with the required number of people.

Since the length of the meetings do not have such pressing constraints as to pick up the return flight to the base may not be there. Most of the participants could very well be at their working bases and there need not be any major interruption in their work. Online meetings therefore, could turn out to be more effective than physical ones. However, one should also be alert to the objectives of the meeting and try and reach them. Weakness on the part of the organizer could always lead to failure of the meeting, whether online or other wise.