Time is valuable, and one of the quickest ways to ruin your rapport with others is to waste their time.

If you are overseeing a project and call a meeting, then please value others’ time by preparing, starting on time, and finishing on time.

Preparing for your Meeting

Map out a schedule and an outline for your meeting. A word-for-word speech is not necessarily needed, but an agenda is very helpful for your participants.

With a plan in place, do your best to stay on task. Other issues might arise and need attention, but move efficiently through them and get back to your agenda.

Starting on Time

By waiting for others to arrive or needing more time to setup and get organized, you are expecting those who were on time to use their time waiting.

If you oversee the meeting, then you should be ready at least 5 minutes prior to the starting time. Do emergencies occur? Yes. However, those instances should be rare, not the norm.

If you find that most of your meetings start late because participants arrive late, then this might be a sign of time wasted at prior meetings. The meeting participants have learned that your meeting time is really 5 or 10 minutes after the time indicated.

To change that cycle, you might need to start your meetings with a special announcement or incentive whereby those who are late miss that information or reward. Participants will quickly learn that they want to be at the start of your meeting, but you must follow through and start your meeting on time.

Finishing on Time

Just as important as starting on time, the meeting must finish on time. Your participants have blocked out time on their schedule for this meeting. They have other responsibilities and projects to do. If your meeting drags on past your meeting time, then you are using borrowed time.

In wrapping up your meeting, write out your conclusion. Too many speakers spend time preparing their introduction and body/content of their presentation and then wing their conclusion. Usually that means, they repeat themselves and finally just fizzle out with a dismissal.

You have spent time preparing, so take a few more minutes to write out the finishing words for your meeting. Once the business has concluded, finish with your written conclusion, and bring your meeting to an end.

Sitting through a couple of meetings in the last month, I have felt that my time was wasted. If you are a presenter, please value others’ time by preparing, starting on time, and finishing on time.

If you are organized and value others’ time, then you will earn respect. Others will enjoy coming to your meetings, and you will benefit with eager participants when you are using time wisely. Happy planning!

Question: How can a speaker/leader/coordinator better value others’ time?