My favorite technique for running a meeting comes from the good folks at Amazon. Jeff Bezos has a system that he's always used and it's worked very well for Amazon. The starting point is who's ever calling the meeting has to write a six page memo on the agenda. This isn't a PowerPoint slide with a bunch of large fonts and bullet points. It's whole sentences, nouns, verbs, objects, there's a narrative. It's six pages long.

And he says he may take a week himself writing it and rewriting it, great thought is put into the agenda and what's to be covered in this meeting. Then, people are given this when they come into the room, then everyone is given time to actually read it. So it starts with everyone being silent in the room, reading the six page document then Nobody stands up and gives the typical presentation and goes through a bunch of PowerPoint slides. Once everyone's had a chance to read it, then people simply ask questions. This way, everyone is literally on the same page, everyone's read the same page, the same six pages, everyone is up to speed. Everyone knows what other people have thought about it so far, and what's gone into their brain.

So it saves a great deal of time. Initially, it could seem like you're wasting time because you're in this room. And it's quiet, but long term, it prevents meetings from going on and on and on. And everyone has to ask the same question, because they didn't get the basic facts to begin with. So I would highly recommend you try this technique. And it doesn't have to be six pages, but something that really summarizes all the important points is not bullet points but actual sentences that makes sense actual ideas, not just topics And then give that everyone in the room whether you do it in advance or when the meeting starts, but preferably, give it to them when the meeting starts.

Silence. Make sure they read it then and only then start the conversation.