The team at First Round Capital recently published a 25-tip guide to running executive meetings. There are some helpful tips to put in your pocket for your next executive meeting. At the same time, we found that the list missed 7 scientifically proven ways to improve executive meetings (and really all meetings).

1. If it’s a discussion-oriented meeting, do it in the afternoon. If it’s a decision-oriented meeting, do it in the morning. Neural fatigue builds through the day.
2. Make sure that the meeting has adequate #recoverytime built-in for all participants. Even the best meeting needs 5 – 17 minutes of separation between it and the next meeting to defuse cognitive load.

3. Never start or end the executive meeting on the hour/half hour. 80 > 90, 50 > 60, 25 > 30. Speedy meetings from @Google can do this (seldom used), but for every other pre-scheduled meeting in your calendar, use MeetingScience’s Time Machine capability to right-size all organized meetings in a few clicks.

4. The meeting title should describe the purpose of the meeting. It’s not ‘Executive Meeting [date]’ – It should be ‘Executive Meeting to define 2022 KPIs’ etc. Be precise and specific.
5. Make sure that you include the agenda in the meeting description. Especially for larger organizations, the calendar is the operating system, and with (too frequent) back-to-back meetings, it’s essential to embed the agenda in the calendar.
6. Measure the cost of the meeting and solicit feedback on its quality across 6 parameters:
   1. Preparation
   2. Accountability
   3. Presence
   4. Time Management
   5. Participation
   6. Quality
   7. (note: we do this automatically)

7. Speaking of preparation and time management, start and end on time! It’s essential and one of the most critical measures of organizational health (see

   @MeetingDoctor research for more)

These are also available on the Twitter thread.  Thanks to @firstround for inspiring this healthy post on #meetingperformance and signup for your complimentary 66-day trial today.