If asked how many meetings you’ve been to in the past month, you probably won’t provide a quick answer. But if asked how many productive meetings you have been to, that number is more likely smaller and easier to remember. 

Unfortunate but true.

A lot of startups meetings lead to wastage. Without clearly defined whys and hows, they waste time, resources, and skills. 

To avoid that, you must ensure you are hosting the right startup meetings. This article will outline everything you need to know to make you more effective and efficient- meaning no one’s time will ever be wasted again.

Startups’ Meetings: Why Are They Necessary? 

Meetings are the backbone of communication. They provide a platform for teams to collaborate better. 

When hosted in a structured way, meetings can work wonders. Whether brainstorming, problem-solving, or team building, meetings bring your teams closer, help increase their collective productivity, and facilitate new ideas. 

However, don’t just do them to “increase productivity”. If you slap your employees with unnecessary meetings that lack an objective or a plan, they will be frustrated. 

You should moderate the number of meetings and ensure they are concise, precise, and logical. If your issues can be addressed informally over a cup of coffee, don’t waste time sending calendar invites. 

But that doesn’t mean that you should ignore meetings altogether. As a startup wanting to succeed, here’s a list of the different types of meetings you shouldn’t miss.

List of Startup Meetings to Host

• Huddle meetings 
• Sprint meetings 
• Status meetings
• Problem-solving meetings
• Decision-Making Meetings
• Review Meetings
• Team-Building Meetings
• Innovation Meetings
• Board Meetings
• One on one Meetings
• All-hands meetings

Huddle meetings 

Huddle meetings are short and sweet. Their main agenda is to encourage team participation and clear communication. 

Why host? 

These are short meetings held by different teams before they begin their day. That means they are the perfect “startup meetings” for mornings. The agenda of these types of work meetings is simple – that everyone discusses what’s on the plate. Afterwards, the team leader or manager assigns work to the respective members. They will also roll out important updates to ensure the team is on the same page about daily happenings. Additionally, managers can utilise these meetings to address any concerns your team members might have and try to resolve them immediately.

When to host? 

These meetings can be hosted daily, biweekly or weekly, depending on the shift structure, work structure, and the team’s bandwidth.

Who can attend? 

Finance, HR, Marketing, or Design teams can host huddle meetings. The entire team’s presence proves beneficial and paves the way for better collaboration. Other stakeholders- VPs or CXOs can attend at their discretion. 

Example

At Telebu, the Online Sales Operations team reserves the conference room from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM daily. Team Leaders- Hussain and Ram Teja discuss the important leads, get updates, and share information with the team. Vasu, the team manager, sometimes graces the meeting with his presence to be on the same page as the team.

Sprint meetings 

Sprint meetings are where you and your team members rehash what you’ve achieved and decide on which agenda item to face next. 

Why host? 

Popularly known as scrum meetings, product teams can host these meetings to make plans, make updates or discuss sprint backlogs. They can also devise time frames for each sprint to ensure they finish the project in time. 

When to host? 

It’s best to do sprint meetings regularly. Each meeting starts with the ramifications of the previous ones. The team can study each sprint’s development and decide to meet daily or once in two days, with or without the presence of the product owner. 

Who can attend? 

The product owner and all the personnel responsible for the product journey, from tech to marketing to sales, should attend these meetings.

Example

When grptalk changed from orange to blue, Anudeep Reddy hosted Sprint Meetings with his product team for grptalk. They discussed the app developments, decided on the sprint timeframe, and crossed out all aspects of the transition. Pratik and Ameya from Marketing, Sudheer and Vasu from Sales and OSO would also attend these meetings to be on the same page. 

Status meetings

These are the types of meetings at work where team members share updates on the current projects they are working on. 

Why host? 

Though Status meetings may sound like sprint meetings, there’s one distinctive difference between the two. Sprint meetings revolve around product development, while status update meetings can be for any other type of project, be it the new Facebook campaign or a recruitment drive. Status meetings are not necessarily broken into segments (like sprints), but you can host them randomly.

When to host? 

Status meetings are usually hosted by key stakeholders who need updates on ongoing projects. Such meetings can happen weekly, fortnightly, or quarterly, based on the demographics and size of the team involved and the project’s size.

Who can attend 

If you have a large project, it may not be feasible to include everyone in all the different types of meetings. In this case, limit invitations to colleagues who can attend the meetings at your beck and call while contributing majorly to the project.

Example

Team Wanasatime, Telebu’s online ticketing platform for the GCC market, meets across boundaries via TelebuJoin or grptalk to discuss the specifics of every event. Sana, our Marketing Manager, usually hosts these meetings to get updates from team leaders in GCC. Nisha- VP Marketing, and Satya- CEO of Telebu, also attend these meetings sometimes. 

Problem-solving meetings

These types of work meetings are the perfect opportunity to air concerns and promptly sort them out. 

Why host?

When people collaborate, misunderstandings are bound to occur. Whatever the cause, effective resolutions are of utmost importance. That is why it’s crucial to host problem-solving meetings. As the name suggests, they aim to find the most suitable solution to a problem relating to project implementation or the team members’ collaboration. 

When to host?

These are short and impromptu meetings hosted whenever the project manager senses trouble. If you are a leader who waits for issues to resolve at their own pace, you’re inviting trouble. Try to fix any and every issue in the nick of time, and if need be, send out those calendar invites often.

Who can attend?

The critical recommendation here is not to crowd problem-solving meetings. The unnecessary involvement of stakeholders or other opinion leaders will only prolong the meeting and reduce the chances of arriving at a workable solution. Focus only on the concerned people and get a solution rather than giving in to corporate formalities. 

Example 

When the Digital Marketing team runs a Facebook Ad Campaign, and it doesn’t fall through for some reason, Varun or Ram Krishna Palakurti calls for a meeting with Sana and Pratik to discuss the aftermath. These meetings are short and very effective due to the absence of micromanagement. You can call it Corporate Laissez-faire.

Decision-Making Meetings

Decision-making meetings help team members get a clearer picture of tasks within the project. 

Why host?

Unlike problem-solving meetings, which are called for after a specific problem shapes up, decision-making meetings are scheduled well in advance. The agenda of these meetings is to take a call on two or more things formally. A secure commitment from the team and the key decision-makers are the prime takeaways from such meetings.

When to host?

You call for a decision-making meeting whenever a new idea or strategy is shaping up. The decisions made in such meetings will, in turn, shape the project’s journey in question. Therefore, it only makes sense to host decision-making meetings at the beginning of a project and remember not to take them lightly.

Who can attend?

When the entire team attends decision meetings, where all the KDMs are present, they have clarity on who will do what. Otherwise, the manager will waste his time explaining everything from scratch repetitively.

Example

When the HR team, led by Farha and Madhuri, have to make decisions regarding the campus recruitment drive. They will call for a decision-making meeting, where they will hear the campus suggestions from the team, finalise the universities, and assign people to specific tasks.

Review Meetings

If you don’t think review meetings are essential to the startups meetings arsenal, you might be doing more harm to your business than good. 

Why host?

Performance review meetings are an essential aspect of every enterprise. Their focus is to track the value of existing employees while keeping their actionable tasks in mind. They help clarify what each individual brings to the table, what they’re good at, and what they can improve on.

When to host?

Most companies have performance reviews annually, half-yearly, or quarterly. Review meetings are usually hush-hush. And even though they’re for the employee’s benefit, review meetings cause much anxiety. Therefore, it’s essential to be mindful of the timeframe between them and how to make the most of each.

Who can attend?

Performance review meetings are formal one-on-ones organised by the HR team. So one employee attends the meeting at a time and faces a panel of HR team members, managers, or any of them, as deemed appropriate by the organisation.

Example

Telebu conducts annual review meetings, where every employee gets an assessment. In such meetings, the manager addresses problems and celebrates accomplishments. 

Team-Building Meetings

You know what they say about all work and no play. You wouldn’t want your team to become dull, would you? They might act unconcerned about team-buildings, but secretly, they look forward to these “meetings”. 

Why host?

Although dreaded by some and loved by others, team-building meetings remain relevant even in today’s virtual work environment. They are a great way to get to know team members better and establish interpersonal relationships.

When to host?

That is solely at the discretion of the team manager. Such meetings can be monthly or fortnightly.

Who can attend?

Individual managers can host these meetings with their respective teams. One key recommendation is not to invite any senior executives so that the meeting retains an up-close and personal feel and a non-judgemental tone. In such a space, every employee can speak their mind without inhibitions.

Example

The Marketing team meets every Saturday to have fun and build the team’s foundation. What’s unique about these meetings is that they nominate hosts weekly who set the agenda and take the meeting forward, followed by a fun activity they plan from scratch. 

Innovation Meetings

These types of meetings are where you can expect team members to reveal their secret plots to take over the world, complete with 5-point action plans. Some may call these kinds of meetings “strategy meetings,” but they all represent the same idea.

Why host?

As the name suggests, innovation meetings are for innovating, brainstorming and thinking outside the box. The agenda of these meetings usually involves acknowledging a competitor’s innovation and pondering over how to progress beyond that step.

When to host?

Every time you come up with a new product or revise features of an existing product, you can call for these types of work meetings, innovation meetings. 

Who can attend?

Mainly the senior management and a few managers responsible for directly leading projects.

Example

Before the launch of TelebuJoin Video Conferencing, the Ace Team of Telebu- Satya, Nisha, Prasanth Yerrapragada and Vasu, would come together in a room and discuss how they can innovate to make the TelebuJoin experience top-notch.

Board Meetings

Board meetings involve the top members of your organisation; in order words, the board of directors. 

Why host?

These meetings are essential in major company decisions and periodic reviews of the organisation’s performance. They primarily focus on health and profitability. 

When to host?

The government has laid out the rules and regulations for various public and private companies regarding when and how to host board meetings. But, for small companies, conducting a minimum of two board meetings is obligatory within every financial year.

Who can attend?

All board members are required to attend these meetings. The minimum quorum is 1/3rd of the total number of directors on the board.

One on one Meetings

If you have grievances, worries, questions, or anything else to share with your team lead, one-on-one meetings are where to get all of that off your chest. 

Why host?

When a manager leads a team, he is also responsible for their mental health, well-being and work satisfaction. Due to obligatory responses, some employees might shy away from speaking their minds in a group setting. That’s why it’s crucial to conduct one-on-ones. These are informal sessions conducted by a manager with each team member. They aim to create an open and safe space for employees to talk about anything that bothers them.

When to host?

As per the manager’s discretion, these meetings happen monthly or quarterly. At least once a month is recommended so that you can resolve issues in good time.

Who can attend?

Two people only: the team lead and the team member, with a promise to uphold employee-employer confidentiality.

Example

Nisha, VP-Marketing, conducts one-on-ones with the team by sending out calendar invites monthly. She discusses their life in general, gets to know them better, and tries to resolve their problems if any. It’s a great way to make team members feel at home.

All-hands meetings

At all-hands meetings, organisation-wide togetherness is the order of the day.

Why host?

These meetings are vital to bringing everyone together as a collective unit. They help address all employees at once- whether it’s about policy changes, product updates, media coverage, or celebrating individual victories. 

When to host?

Most offices spread across boundaries like to host these meetings annually to cut down on travel costs. Instead of splitting budgets, they prefer to have one magnificent event and go all out on it. Monthly or bi-annually all-hands meetings would work for organisations that don’t have scattered teams. 

Who can attend?

Every employee should attend these meetings, no matter what team or designation. The CEO or any other senior executive(s) will typically address the audience and take charge of this kind of startup meeting.

Startups Meetings: Best Practices 

The meetings, as mentioned above, will help your startup maintain a meeting structure that’s a prerequisite for growth. 

But despite going by the book, your startups meetings might still be unfruitful and feel like a total waste of time. 

There are only two reasons why this might happen:

1. Your meetings are tedious, monotonous or fail to adhere to the agenda.
2. You host too many types of meetings at work where people stray from the topic and stain collective productivity.

Luckily, there are solutions to address both situations. When you stick to the minimum number of meetings, monotony or repetition will be the least of your worries.

Startup Meeting Agenda: Quick Tips For You 

Having a clearly defined agenda before every meeting will significantly save you time and resources and have everyone leaving the meetings feeling fulfilled. Here are some tips to help.

Experiment 

While hosting these meetings, try to experiment and make them fun. That could include a short fun activity before kicking off a catchup meeting or presenting a slideshow with the entire team’s details. 

Be unconventional 

Take advantage of being a startup by letting go of traditional meeting/conference rooms. 

Play around with different venues and approaches for your startup meetings- perhaps the lawn, a quiet coffee house down the street, or a new app you’ve never used. 

Encourage participation 

Meetings involve more than one person. Most of the different types of meetings your startup requires are ones that encourage the rubbing of minds and bringing new ideas to the table. You can do the last call for questions at the end of meetings before adjourning or ending the meeting.

Here Are Some Startup Meeting Gifts From Telebu To You 

grptalk– An audio conferencing app that connects 3-100+ people in <30 seconds. When you have an issue that needs immediate attention, especially when working remotely, pick up your phone, create a group, and schedule your on-call meeting for faster resolutions.

TelebuJoin– A video conferencing tool that lets you kindle the emotional spark within your browser. When you think you need to gather your colleagues in a room, we’ll help you do that virtually. Get dedicated meeting rooms for yourself so that you remain uninterrupted while devising strategies or addressing problems.

When All Else Fails, Try This 

With startups becoming more self-reliant, it’s high time your employees and your meetings become self-reliant too. 

If you’re still unsure which video conferencing apps are best for startups’ meetings, this article should make your selection easier. But we’ll tell you this for free – if you want to experience seamless collaboration, TelebuJoin has you in mind. 

Learn more about TelebuJoin, get started with our free trial, or contact our sales team to get a demo and discuss your video conferencing needs.

Revolutionise how you meet while you launch your mission to achieve skyrocketing success!