How many meetings do you attend each week?  How often are you in charge of the meeting?  Sales appointments, customer discussions, and team meetings are just a few of the gatherings that you may participate in each week.  All of us understand how much time and effort meetings can absorb, and when these interactions are ineffective, our productivity plummets.

One of the best tools to use in any type of meeting is the ”parking lot.”   The parking lot is a temporary holding area to write down ideas, future agenda items, or topics that need to be addressed in a separate meeting.  Using the parking lot effectively allows the group to stay on task during the meeting, while ensuring that these items will be tackled in a future meeting.

Whether you are the facilitator of the assembly or not, the suggestion of “parking” items is usually appropriate.  Adding items to the parking lot validates to the owner that the thought is worthwhile and deserving of more attention.

Parking Lot rules are pretty simple:

The parking lot should be visible to the attendees

Parking lot items should be included in the meeting notes

You should park items that are not directly on-topic or that stray from the agenda

You should park ideas that merit further discussion but fall outside the agenda

Go over the parking lot articles before adjourning

Submit the parking lot items to the appropriate manager

Learn to “park it” to increase the productivity of your meetings.  As with all communication techniques, practice will increase both your comfort and skill. 

For more meeting tips, check out The Meaningful Meeting post.

http://connectivemanagement.com/2010/03/the-meaningful-meeting/