Collect the team’s expectations before a meeting

Expectations Before the Meeting: A Survey template to elevate meeting preparation

This ready-to-use Survey template emerges as a pivotal solution to a common workplace challenge: how to better align your meetings with the participants’ mindset. 

Indeed, the success of a meeting is largely determined by the groundwork laid before it even begins. By soliciting and aligning participants' expectations and objectives in advance, the template facilitates a structured approach to meeting preparation that is both inclusive and strategic.

This Survey template is more than just a pre-meeting questionnaire; it is a strategic framework that empowers every meeting participant to contribute to the agenda actively.

This proactive engagement ensures that the meeting's scope is comprehensive and directly aligned with the participant's needs and the organizational objectives. It transforms the meeting from a passive information-sharing session to a dynamic, collaborative effort towards common goals.

Why use this Survey

Using the "Expectations Before the Meeting" Survey template holds many benefits for both the organizers and the participants of a meeting. These advantages span from enhancing meeting focus and engagement to fostering a culture of accountability and efficient time management. 

Let’s  take a closer look at these benefits:

• Enhanced focus: By setting clear expectations, this Survey ensures that meetings are focused on addressing the issues that matter most. This clarity prevents the common pitfall of meetings from devolving into aimless discussions, instead maintaining a steadfast focus on achieving defined objectives.
• Increased engagement and participation: This Survey democratizes the meeting preparation process, giving all participants a voice in shaping the agenda. This approach not only bolsters engagement but also enriches the meeting with diverse perspectives, leading to more innovative solutions and decisions.
• Accountability and role clarity: With expectations clearly defined, each participant understands their role and contributions towards the meeting's objectives. This clarity fosters a sense of responsibility and accountability, driving participants to prepare thoroughly and engage meaningfully.
• Efficient use of time: The alignment of expectations streamlines the meeting process, enabling teams to cover more ground in less time. This efficiency not only respects participants’ time but also accelerates the pace of decision-making and project advancement.
• Improved outcomes and decision quality: The collective alignment of goals and expectations directly contributes to the quality of decisions made and the outcomes achieved. This strategic alignment ensures that meetings are instrumental in driving forward project and organizational success through concrete decisions and results.

How to use Klaxoon’s “Expectations Before the Meeting” template

Incorporating Klaxoon’s template into your meeting preparation routine is simple, yet transformative. Here is how you can leverage this Survey to revolutionize your meeting culture:

1. Preparation and customization

Firstly, you need to customize the "Expectations Before the Meeting" Survey template on Klaxoon’s platform. Several types of the most popular questions are already available within the model. You can adapt them in two ways:

• By changing the content of the questions and the way to answer them: single choice, multiple choice, rating, open comments,...
• By deleting some questions or by adding more, to better align with your context and participants’ needs. 

Through this step, you will tailor the Survey to the specific nuances and objectives of your upcoming meeting, ensuring it is relevant and comprehensive for everyone involved.

2. Sharing the Survey and collecting input

Once your Survey is ready, you need to invite the participants of the upcoming meeting to complete it and share their expectations, questions, and priorities. This step is easy to complete whether they are working on-site or remotely.

In Klaxoon, you can do this either by inviting the participants directly via email, or by sharing the access link of the Survey with them. Make sure you have enough time before the meeting to gather everyone's input and properly analyze the results of the Survey so that you can make the necessary adjustments to the meeting. 

After that, synthesize the gathered input into a cohesive and targeted agenda. This agenda acts as a roadmap for the meeting, ensuring that discussions are structured and purposeful.

3. Facilitating a more focused and effective meeting

Armed with a clear set of expectations and a focused agenda, the meeting can proceed with confidence and direction. During the meeting, make sure you have an overview of the results of your Survey so that you can effectively address the concerns and expectations highlighted by participants.

This structured approach ensures that every moment of the meeting is utilized effectively, with discussions that are both productive and meaningful.

4. Ensuring a reflective follow-up 

Finally, a post-meeting review of the set expectations versus the outcomes offers valuable insights. You can make the process even more efficient by combining the “Expectations Before the Meeting” Survey with our dedicated Survey to collect feedback from participants after your meeting. 

This not only assesses the meeting's effectiveness but also informs continuous improvement strategies for future meetings.

This is how, by integrating the "Expectations Before the Meeting" Survey into the preparatory phase of your meetings, you can transform them from obligatory time commitments into powerful catalysts for collaboration, innovation, and progress.