Meetings Mastery: Run And Attend Meetings Efficiently

via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

8 weeks, 1 hour a week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English

Found in

Meeting Management Courses

Part of

New Manager Skills Toolkit

Overview

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Chris Croft is an international speaker, widely published author, and highly experienced business trainer who has spent over 20 years teaching practical leadership and communication skills to companies around the world. Known for his engaging, humorous, and highly practical teaching style, Chris has helped hundreds of thousands of professionals improve their effectiveness at work. How much of your week is spent in meetings? And how many of those meetings are genuinely useful? Meetings can be one of the most effective ways to share information, solve problems, and make decisions. Unfortunately, they can also be one of the biggest drains on time and productivity when they're poorly planned or badly managed. In this course, you'll learn how to make meetings shorter, more focused, and far more effective. We'll explore when a meeting is actually necessary, who really needs to attend, and how to create clear agendas that keep discussions on track and lead to useful outcomes. You'll discover practical techniques for both meeting leaders and participants, including how to encourage participation, manage difficult behaviours, keep conversations focused, and ensure decisions are actually turned into actions. We'll also look at remote and hybrid meetings, recurring meetings, and what to do when you're invited to a meeting that probably shouldn't exist. The focus throughout is on practical, common-sense ideas that you can apply immediately. Whether you run meetings, attend meetings, or both, you'll leave with a toolkit of techniques to help make your meetings more productive, more engaging, and much less frustrating. After all, meetings should help people get work done - not stop them from doing it.

Syllabus

Introduction - What Even Is a Meeting?
- This opening module helps learners step back from automatic calendar habits and think more critically about why meetings exist in the first place. You will examine what meetings are for, how different meeting types serve different purposes, and why unnecessary meetings drain time, attention, and momentum. By the end, learners will be better prepared to decide when a meeting is worth having, what kind of meeting is needed, and when cancelling or replacing one is the smartest choice.
Planning the Perfect Meeting
- Effective meetings are usually designed before they begin, and this module focuses on the practical choices that make that possible. Learners will explore how to keep attendee lists lean, assign useful roles, protect time with clear end points, and build agendas that help people arrive prepared. The module also highlights reminders, ground rules, parking techniques, and inclusive participation methods that turn planning into better flow, stronger decisions, and a more respectful experience for everyone involved.
Running the Room
- Once a meeting starts, facilitation becomes visible in real time. This module helps learners turn discussion into progress by using visuals, guiding decisions, managing derailments, capturing actions, and closing with clarity. You will practice the habits that help a group stay focused, make decisions instead of circling them, and leave with clear ownership and next steps that carry the meeting’s work forward.
When You're Not the Chair
- Meetings are not only a leadership skill; they are also a participation skill. This module helps learners make better decisions about when to attend, how to clarify their role, and how to arrive ready to contribute. It also addresses practical realities such as joining late and staying constructive during long sessions, so learners can participate professionally and add value even when they are not leading the room.
Dealing With Humans
- Even well-designed meetings succeed or fail through human behavior. In this module, learners will work on the everyday people challenges that affect punctuality, preparation, attention, and participation. By developing practical responses to lateness, low engagement, uneven contribution, and varied communication styles, learners will be better equipped to protect group time and create a meeting environment where more people can contribute effectively.
Chaos Control in Meetings
- Some meetings need more than good planning; they need calm control when things start to unravel. This module focuses on the facilitator’s ability to restore structure under pressure by prioritizing the agenda, steering the conversation back on course, managing dominant voices, handling conflict, and responding to difficult behaviors. Learners will build practical techniques for maintaining progress and credibility when the room becomes more challenging than expected.
If It All Goes a Bit Pear-Shaped
- Not every meeting can be perfectly managed in the moment, so professionals also need recovery skills. This module addresses stressful or awkward situations such as missing a meeting, sensing tension that no one is naming, staying composed under pressure, and speaking effectively when senior people are present. Learners will build confidence, emotional control, and practical recovery habits that help preserve trust and keep work moving forward.
Long-Term Meeting Strategies
- This module shifts from individual meetings to the broader systems and habits that shape meeting culture over time. Learners will explore how to improve remote and hybrid meetings, evaluate recurring meetings for real value, strengthen follow-up, break patterns of poor meeting behavior, and build shared norms that support clarity and accountability. The emphasis is on sustainable improvement so better meetings become a team habit rather than a one-time success.