Meetings get a bad rap. To most, the word "meeting" conjures up unpleasant images of bored business people sitting around a conference table or on a conference call listening to material that doesn't interest them while wishing they were somewhere else. Why have meetings become so hated and so generally unproductive? Personally, I blame all parties involved. Both the meeting leaders and participants are responsible for creating engaging, productive meetings and there are many things that all parties can do to create better results.

Have an agenda and stick to it. For some reason, meetings tend to bring out everyone's desires to ramble about various personal topics in front of the audience in the room. This leads to straying off topic, tangents, and "rabbit holes" that go nowhere. This is usually caused by people not reading the agenda before the meeting, which causes them to show up unprepared and focus on things other than the topics at hand. Meeting leaders can help by sending out a clear agenda and keeping the meeting on topic by gently squelching stray conversations.

Start on time. This is one of the hardest things to do. People have a natural tendency to wander in on their own schedules and when multiple people are involved, this leads to a build-up up pre-meeting chatter which can be difficult to rein in. Furthermore, it is disrespectful of everyone's time when a meeting starts late. It was scheduled at a certain time and it should start at that time. Ending on time is also important.

Eliminate side chatter. When someone is speaking, do not start a side conversation with your neighbor. This may seem innocent and natural but it is extremely rude to the person speaking and slows the entire meeting down. When someone had the floor, look at that person, be engaged, listen, and don't interrupt. If everyone did this, meetings would start getting dramatically shorter.

Silence means consent. I loved this point which was explained in the article "Meetings suck, but they don't have to" (CNet). If you ask a question and no one responds, take it as consent and move on. Don't try to badger people into a response - this wastes time.

Don't beat dead horses. When an outcome is reached, move on. There is no need to re-hash decisions or points. Learn to recognize when a topic is resolved and avoid dragging it out.

Don't be afraid to table things. Learn to recognize when a discussion is going nowhere and table it. If you can see that no resolution will be reached during this meeting or that the group is missing information or substance needed to move forward, table the topic for a future meeting and move on.

Think in outcomes. Rather than thinking of a meeting as a big group discussion, think in terms of "what is the outcome of this discussion". Is there a problem to be solved? A decision to be made? An action to be defined? By keeping your eye on the goal in mind, you will remain focused on results, rather than on just talking.

These are a few guidelines for improving the quality of your meetings. It doesn't guarantee that all meetings wil be fun, but it can improve everyone's level of satisfaction and productivity.