I just read a book called “Uptime” by Laura Mae Martin. In her book she asks the question: Are your meetings up to PAR? By this, she means are your meetings living up to the following three criteria, which form the acronym PAR:

• Purpose – Does the meeting have a purpose that clearly explains why that meeting is happening?
• Agenda – Does the meeting have an agenda and is that agenda shared with attendees in advance of the meeting?
• Results – Have you defined what a successful conclusion of the meeting looks like, and do you have a plan to follow up after the meeting with notes and action items?

Purpose

A meeting should have a clear purpose. For example, I asked ChatGPT what types of meetings there are, and it came up with the following list of 15 different types of meetings:

1. Staff Meetings, where you share updates, align on goals, and address team-wide issues.

2. Board Meetings, where you discuss high-level strategy, governance, and organizational performance.

3. Client Meetings, where youdiscuss project updates, review deliverables, or strengthen client relationships.

4. Sales Meetings, where youpitch products or services, negotiate deals, or close sales.

5. Brainstorming Sessions, where you generate ideas, solve problems, or plan initiatives.

6. Training or Workshop Sessions, where you educate employees, develop skills, or onboard new hires.

7. Project Meetings, where you plan, monitor, and review the progress of specific projects.

8. Performance Review Meetings, where you evaluate employee performance, provide feedback, and set future goals.

9. Stand-Up Meetings, which are quick, focused updates on daily or weekly progress (common in Agile teams).

10. Strategy Meetings, where you set long-term goals, define business strategy, and assess opportunities or risks.

11. All-Hands Meetings, where you communicate major updates, celebrate achievements, or share organizational vision.

12. Crisis Management Meetings, where you address urgent issues, mitigate risks, or develop a response plan.

13. Networking Meetings, where you build relationships and exchange ideas between professionals.

14. Budget or Financial Review Meetings, where youreview budgets, analyze financial performance, and allocate resources.

15. Town Hall Meetings, where you foster transparency, encourage Q&A, and engage employees.

Each of these types of meetings has a distinct purpose, and it is important that you communicate the purpose and goals of the meeting with attendees in advance. This can help them to prepare for the meeting and to know what to expect from the meeting.

Each of these types of meetings also requires different approaches. The way you plan for each type of meeting varies based on the meeting’s purpose. A client meeting is very different from an internal brainstorming meeting. To effectively run each of these meetings, you need to plan in advance what will be discussed and how it will be communicated. You can also identify what goals you want to achieve in the meeting and what you want the outcome to be for the meeting.

Agenda

A good meeting has an agenda, and that agenda is shared with attendees in advance. This helps them prepare for the meeting. It is also an excellent tool to keep the meeting focused on the purpose of the meeting. When the discussion in a meeting starts to veer away from the agenda, the meeting facilitator can direct the conversation back to the agenda to keep the meeting on track.

Another advantage of sharing the agenda in advance is that team members will have the opportunity to add items to the agenda. When I have a meeting with a team I am leading, I always share an agenda with them by email and I ask them if they have any items of my business that they would like to discuss at the meeting. This gives them a chance to raise any issues they want to discuss or to add items to the agenda that they feel are important to discuss.

When attendees see the agenda in advance, they will know what is being discussed and what the purpose of the meeting is. This can help them to be better informed and to be ready to contribute to the meeting when it takes place.

Results

How you end a meeting is just as important as how you prepare for a meeting. When done right, the follow up for a meeting can help team members retain what was discussed during the meeting, and it can help them to act on the decisions that were made during the meeting.

It is important to take minutes during a meeting and to assign action items to people during the meeting. Don’t just make decisions. Document those decisions and make sure someone takes responsibility for those decisions.

With minutes, it is important to share them promptly after the meeting is over. This ensures people can act on decisions and action items in a timely manner. Don’t wait a week (or longer) to share the minutes. I recommend preparing and sending the minutes the same day that the meeting took place, or at least sharing the minutes within 24 hours after the meeting is over.

If you set goals for the meeting, an effective way to end the meeting is to review if you achieved your goals for that meeting. If you did not achieve your goals, you can review why you did not achieve your goals, and you can discuss what your next steps are. This can help you plan for future meetings, and it can help you to adjust your goals in the future.

Conclusion

Laura Mae Martin’s PAR acronym is a good acronym to remember when planning a meeting. When your meetings are up to PAR they have a clearly defined Purpose, they have an Agenda, and they have clearly defined Results. Achieving all three of these standards will mean you have much better meetings as a team.

I encourage you to apply this acronym to your meetings. You will have more effective meetings where your team understands why the meeting is happening, what is happening during the meeting, and what decisions were made during the meeting. You will also end meetings effectively with a clear plan for how to act on any decisions made during the meeting.

Think about your meetings and answer the question: Are your meetings up to PAR?