Many businesses rely on regular communications via meetings, both impromptu and scheduled. Some rather unproductive companies even have meetings to talk about meetings. In order to achieve desirable outcomes and remaining productive, here are six proven tips for success:

Have an Agenda
This goes without saying, but it is in the best interest of the meeting facilitator to craft an agenda to print and distribute to each of the participants as they settle in that covers the topics of discussion and general format for the meeting. This sets the stage nicely for a positive outcome.

Eliminate Distractions
There is nothing more annoying than someone’s cell phone playing a tune right as the meeting has begun, and it inevitably happens at the worst possible moments. Everyone claims they turned their phone onto vibrate as they entered or squelched their pager. In order to minimize distractions, insist that everyone either turn off their cell phones, pagers, or PDAs or leave them out of the room during the meeting. This may be perceived as a rather hard stance to take, but it will greatly improve the odds that you’ll be able to stick to the agenda and keep things flowing.

Have One Person Designated to Take Notes
Have you ever seen someone doodling or keeping themselves occupied with something totally unrelated to the topic at hand only to look like a complete fool when they are asked to contribute? Remove the burden of note taking by designating someone specific to take notes and encourage everyone to pay attention instead of taking their own notes. This way it’ll be easy to determine which people aren’t paying attention and reel them back in with the group.

Stay on Topic
If you’ve called an important meeting, it would be in your best interest to stay on topic. Everyone has multiple things going on in their day-to-day routine, and interrupting it to attend a meeting is routinely met with disdain especially if it doesn’t impact them a great deal. Out of respect for everyone’s time, stick to the topics outlined in the agenda in order to permit your co-workers or clients to return to the things that are most directly important to them.

Set a Regular Schedule (if necessary)
If there are requisite status meetings to discuss a project’s progress, set a schedule ahead of time so that everyone can coordinate their schedules with the meeting. This is particularly effective for committees and boards as people are joining from various locales or portions of the company.

End on Time
A final, common sense, pointer to take to heart is ending the meeting on time. As stated previously, people are coming from various areas of your business or even making logistical compromises to attend the meeting so make sure you end on time out of common courtesy.

Meetings do not have to be exasperatingly wasteful events provided the proper steps are taken to remove obstacles and improve efficiency.