Meeting Tips
Andrey Shcherbina
Nov 14, 2025
Manager creates calendar event "Project X Meeting" and invites team. Ten people connect to call. After five minutes, it becomes clear everyone understood meeting goal differently—one prepared progress report, another thought they'd solve technical problem, third expected brainstorming new features. Hour of unfocused discussion, no concrete results, everyone disperses disappointed.
Hi there! The mymeet.ai team analyzes thousands of meetings and sees that lack of clear goal is main reason for useless calls. Meeting without goal is like journey without destination. Can travel long, spend resources, but arrive nowhere. We'll cover how to properly formulate meeting goals, show examples for different situations, and explain why this is critical for productivity.
Why Clear Meeting Goal Is Critical
"Let's gather and discuss"—worst way to organize meeting. Without goal, discussion proceeds chaotically and ends with nothing.
Goal Determines Everything Else
From goal depends:
Who to invite—for budget decision need managers with authority, for brainstorming—creative people from different teams, for status—entire project team.
How much time needed—strategy discussion requires 2 hours, project status—30 minutes, quick decision—15 minutes.
How to prepare—for contractor selection meeting need to study proposals in advance, for status—prepare progress report, for creative—just arrive with open mind.
What format to use—presentation, discussion, brainstorming, voting.
How to evaluate success—meeting successful if goal achieved. Without goal, impossible to understand whether meeting was useful.
Time Savings
Clear goal focuses discussion and prevents going off-topic.
Participants know what to talk about and don't waste time figuring out why they gathered. Moderator returns to goal when discussion deviates. Meeting ends when goal achieved, not when allocated time runs out.
Research shows: meetings with clearly formulated goal are on average 40% shorter and 2x more productive than meetings without goal.
Participant Engagement
People participate more actively when they understand why they're here.
Knowing goal creates context for each person's contribution. Participants can prepare relevant thoughts and materials. Clear when to speak up and when to just listen.
Vague goal or its absence creates passivity—people sit silently not understanding what's expected of them.
Concrete Results
Goal allows evaluating whether meeting was successful.
If goal is "Make decision on CRM system selection"—success is specific decision which system we're implementing. If goal is "Generate 20 ideas for onboarding improvement"—success is list of 20 ideas.
Without goal, impossible to say whether result achieved. Meeting just ends when time runs out.
Characteristics of Good Meeting Goal
Not every formulation of goal works effectively. Let's examine what makes goal good.
Specificity
Good goal is specific—clearly describes what exactly should be achieved.
Bad goals:
"Discuss project"—what exactly to discuss? Entire project? Specific aspect?
"Talk about problems"—which problems? All at once? One specific?
"Team meeting"—why is team gathering?
Good goals:
"Approve homepage design from three proposed options"
"Analyze causes of 15% conversion decrease over last month"
"Distribute next sprint tasks among team members"
Specificity allows focusing and understanding when goal is achieved.
Achievability Within Meeting
Good goal is realistic for one meeting.
Unachievable goals:
"Solve all project problems"—too broad for one meeting
"Develop complete marketing strategy for year"—requires weeks of work
"Improve development process"—vague and large-scale
Achievable goals:
"Identify three main project problems and assign responsible parties for solving"
"Determine key marketing strategy directions for detailed development"
"Agree on one code review process improvement for pilot implementation"
If goal too large-scale—split into several meetings or narrow focus.
Result Measurability
Good goal allows objectively evaluating whether it's achieved.
Unmeasurable goals:
"Improve project understanding"—how to measure understanding improvement?
"Increase team motivation"—subjective and not immediately verifiable
"Discuss strategy"—discussed, and then what?
Measurable goals:
"Each participant will formulate their project role in writing"
"Get three process improvement suggestions from each team member"
"Make written decision on three strategic priorities for quarter"
Measurability creates clarity whether meeting was successful.
Participant Relevance
Good goal is important for everyone invited to meeting.
If goal relevant only to one person—why are others there? If half the participants don't understand why they're here—problem with goal or participant list.
Relevance check: Each participant should answer "Yes" to question "Is my contribution needed to achieve this goal?"
Time Frame
Good goal includes time understanding—when result needed and how much time for achievement.
"Make hiring decision on candidate"—right at meeting or after additional analysis? "Generate ideas"—in 30 minutes or 2 hours?
Time frames help plan meeting and manage time during discussion.
SMART Format for Meeting Goals
SMART—proven goal-setting methodology. Let's adapt it for meetings.
S — Specific
Goal answers questions:
WHAT exactly needs to be achieved?
WHAT specific result?
HOW is result expressed?
Examples:
❌ "Discuss design"
✅ "Approve final homepage design from three options"
M — Measurable
Goal allows objectively determining whether it's achieved.
Examples:
❌ "Improve planning process"
✅ "Reduce sprint planning time from 4 to 2 hours through process change"
A — Achievable
Goal is realistic within one meeting with given participants.
Examples:
❌ "Develop complete API documentation" (requires weeks)
✅ "Agree on API documentation structure and distribute sections among authors"
R — Relevant
Goal is important for business and for meeting participants.
Examples:
❌ "Discuss weather" (not relevant to business)
✅ "Determine seasonality impact on sales for forecast adjustment"
T — Time-bound
Goal contains time frame for achievement.
Examples:
❌ "Someday make budget decision"
✅ "Make decision on Q2 marketing budget at this meeting"
SMART Goal Template for Meeting
[Action verb] + [specific result] + [measurable criterion] + [within meeting/by date]
Complete SMART goal examples:
"Choose CRM system from three reviewed options based on cost, functionality, and integration criteria by meeting end"
"Generate minimum 15 ideas for mobile app user experience improvement in 60 minutes"
"Distribute 20 next sprint tasks among five developers with complexity estimate for each"
Goal Examples for Different Meeting Types
Different meeting types require different goal formulation approaches.
Goals for Status Meetings
Focus: synchronizing team on current progress.
Goal examples:
"Each team member shares week's progress, next week's plans, and blockers requiring help"
"Update status of all sprint tasks and identify risks of not finishing sprint on time"
"Synchronize three teams on their component integration progress and resolve dependency conflicts"
Keywords: update status, synchronize, identify blockers, share progress.
Goals for Decision-Making Meetings
Focus: choose specific action option from several.
Goal examples:
"Choose one contractor from three based on price, quality, and timeline criteria for mobile app development"
"Make decision to invest or not invest in new product direction based on market analysis and financial forecasts"
"Approve Q2 marketing budget with channel distribution: contextual advertising, SMM, content marketing"
Keywords: choose, make decision, approve, determine approach.
Goals for Problem-Solving Meetings
Focus: find solution to specific problem.
Goal examples:
"Identify root cause of 3-second website loading time increase and develop elimination plan by week end"
"Find way to reduce sales department turnover from 40% to 20% annually through departure reason analysis and countermeasure development"
"Resolve priority conflict between development team and marketing through feature prioritization criteria agreement"
Keywords: identify cause, find solution, develop plan, solve problem.
Goals for Creative Meetings and Brainstorming
Focus: generate new ideas without evaluation.
Goal examples:
"Generate minimum 30 ideas for new employee onboarding process improvement without criticism and evaluation"
"Come up with 10 creative campaign concepts for new product launch in millennial market"
"Create list of 20 potential features for product version 3.0 based on user feedback and market trends"
Keywords: generate ideas, come up with concepts, create option list.
Goals for Information Meetings
Focus: deliver information to audience.
Goal examples:
"Inform entire team about new 2025 company strategy and answer questions for understanding"
"Train 15 sales managers to work with new CRM system with practical exercises"
"Present quarter results to all employees and explain how they affect bonuses"
Keywords: inform, train, present, explain.
Goals for One-on-One Meetings
Focus: employee development, feedback, resolving personal work issues.
Goal examples:
"Discuss Alexey's progress on quarter goals, identify obstacles, and determine how I as manager can help"
"Give Maria feedback on client presentation and agree on plan for developing presentation skills"
"Discuss Dmitry's career ambitions and develop action plan for growth to senior position within year"
Keywords: discuss progress, give feedback, agree on development plan.
Goals for Retrospectives
Focus: extract lessons from past period and improve process.
Goal examples:
"Analyze past sprint, identify what worked well and what needs improvement, agree on three actions for next sprint"
"Conduct completed project retrospective, capture lessons learned, and create recommendation list for future projects"
"Discuss last quarter of team work, determine main achievements and three improvement areas"
Keywords: analyze, extract lessons, determine improvements, capture conclusions.
How to Formulate Goal: Step-by-Step Process
Before creating meeting go through this goal formulation checklist.
Step 1: Determine if Meeting Is Needed
Not every task requires meeting. Ask yourself:
Can question be resolved via email?
Can decision be made asynchronously?
Is discussion required or is informing sufficient?
Meeting needed when:
Synchronous discussion required
Need to make complex decision collectively
Brainstorming and interaction important
Need to reach consensus
Meeting NOT needed when:
Can simply inform via letter
One person can make decision
No need for discussion
Step 2: Formulate Draft Goal
Answer question: "What specifically should be achieved by meeting end?"
Use format: [Verb] + [Specific result]
Examples:
Make [specific decision]
Approve [specific document/plan]
Solve [specific problem]
Generate [quantity] ideas on [topic]
Distribute [what] among [whom]
Step 3: Check Against SMART
Go through criteria:
✅ Specific—is result specifically described? ✅ Measurable—clear when goal achieved? ✅ Achievable—realistic to achieve in one meeting? ✅ Relevant—important for business and participants? ✅ Time-bound—are there time frames?
If even one point is "No"—refine formulation.
Step 4: Determine Participants Based on Goal
Who's needed to achieve this specific goal?
Who makes decisions?
Whose expertise is necessary?
Who will implement result?
If person can't help achieve goal—don't invite them.
Step 5: Estimate Required Time
How much time needed to achieve this goal?
Quick decision—15-30 minutes
Discussion and selection—45-60 minutes
Complex analysis—90-120 minutes
Deep brainstorming—90-120 minutes
If need more than 2 hours—perhaps goal too broad, split into several meetings.
Step 6: Include Goal in Invitation
Goal should be visible to all participants before meeting.
In event name: "Meeting: CRM System Selection" "Decision: Q2 Marketing Budget" "Brainstorm: Onboarding Improvement"
In event description:
Common Mistakes in Goal Formulation
Avoid these mistakes when setting meeting goals.
Too Broad Goal
Mistake: "Discuss project"
Problem: What exactly to discuss? Entire project? What aspect? What result?
Correct: "Approve project backend architecture from two proposed options"
Multiple Goals in One Meeting
Mistake: "Make budget decision AND generate new feature ideas AND discuss team problems"
Problem: Different goals require different approaches, participants, time. Can't effectively combine.
Correct: Three separate meetings with clear goals each.
Process Instead of Result
Mistake: "Conduct brainstorming"
Problem: Brainstorming is process, not result. What should be after brainstorm?
Correct: "Generate 20 ideas for increasing mobile app user retention"
Unmeasurable Goal
Mistake: "Improve company strategy understanding"
Problem: How to measure whether understanding improved? Subjective and unverifiable.
Correct: "Each department head will formulate three actions of their department for company strategy implementation"
Unachievable Within Meeting Goal
Mistake: "Solve all team problems"
Problem: Too large-scale for one meeting of any length.
Correct: "Identify three main team problems and assign responsible parties for solution development"
Lack of Specificity
Mistake: "Team meeting on project"
Problem: Why is team gathering? What should happen?
Correct: "Distribute 25 sprint tasks among team members with complexity estimates"
How to Work with Goal During Meeting
Having goal requires proper use during discussion.
Voice Goal at Start
First 2 minutes of meeting moderator should clearly voice goal.
"Our meeting goal is to make decision on contractor selection from three options. By meeting end, we must have written decision whom we're choosing and why."
This synchronizes all participants on expected result.
Return to Goal When Deviating
When discussion goes off-topic—return to goal.
"This is interesting topic, but now our goal is to make contractor decision. Let's capture this question for separate discussion and return to selection."
Check Progress
Mid-meeting verify against goal.
"We've had 30 minutes of 60. We've reviewed two options of three. On right track for goal achievement."
Capture Achievement
At meeting end clearly capture whether goal achieved.
"Meeting goal achieved—we chose contractor B based on best price-quality ratio. Decision captured in writing. Next step—Alexey signs contract by Friday."
If goal not achieved—honestly acknowledge and plan continuation.
Automating Goal and Result Capture
Proper goal—first step. Second—capture whether it's achieved.
Mymeet.ai helps work with meeting goals:
✅ Goal recognition—AI analyzes discussion and determines whether meeting had goal
✅ Achievement verification—compares discussion results with stated goal
✅ Result extraction—finds specific decisions, agreements, action items
✅ Structured reports—clear capture of what decided and what to do next
✅ Knowledge base—search for past decisions and agreements by meeting goals
Case Study: How ProductLead Increased Meeting Effectiveness by 60%
Product team ProductLead of 20 people conducted 40+ meetings weekly. Many meetings ended without concrete results.
Problem: Meeting goals formulated vaguely or absent. Invitations said "Discuss project" or "Team sync." Participants arrived with different expectations. Discussions proceeded chaotically. Many meetings ended without decisions—"let's think more and meet again."
Solution: Implemented rule—each meeting must have SMART goal in event name and description. Examples:
"Decision: Feature Priorities for Release 2.5"
"Generation: 15 Retention Improvement Ideas"
"Approval: Mobile App Design"
Mymeet.ai recorded meetings and in report showed whether stated goal was achieved.
Results:
60% increase in meeting effectiveness—more concrete decisions
25% reduction in meeting quantity—eliminated meetings without clear goal
Increased team satisfaction with meeting process
Clear capture of all decisions and next steps
Conclusion
Clear meeting goal—productivity foundation. Goal determines who to invite, how to prepare, how much time needed, how to moderate discussion, and how to evaluate success. Use SMART format for goal formulation, adapt to meeting type, voice at start and verify achievement at end.
Meeting without goal—guaranteed time waste. Meeting with clear SMART goal—tool for achieving specific business results.
Try mymeet.ai for free—180 minutes of automatic meeting recording with goal achievement verification without card attachment.
Frequently Asked Questions About Meeting Goals
Must every meeting have a goal?
Yes, absolutely mandatory. Meeting without goal is meaningless time waste. Even informal meetings have goal (strengthen team relationships, introduce new employees). If can't formulate goal—don't create meeting.
Can one meeting have multiple goals?
Highly not recommended. Different goals require different approaches, participants, time. Better to conduct two short focused meetings than one long with multiple goals. Exception—close goals of same type (e.g., "approve homepage and internal page designs").
How to formulate goal for regular meetings?
Goal can be standard for meeting series but specified for each. Example weekly status: general goal "Synchronize team on project progress," specification "Update sprint 15 task statuses and identify deadline risks."
What to do if goal changed during meeting?
Stop meeting and reformulate goal with participant consent. "We started with goal X, but it turned out Y is more relevant. Agree to focus on new goal?" Capture change in minutes.
How to measure whether goal was achieved?
Define criterion in advance. For goal "Make decision"—criterion is having specific choice. For "Generate 20 ideas"—criterion is list of 20 items. For "Distribute tasks"—criterion is assigning executor to each task. At meeting end, verify criterion.
Who should formulate meeting goal?
Meeting organizer responsible for goal formulation. Can be project manager, leader, moderator. But useful to discuss goal with key participants in advance to ensure it's relevant to all.
What if participants disagree with goal?
Discuss before meeting. If invitation goal is "Approve design A," but participant thinks need "Choose between designs A and B"—clarify this in advance and adjust. Don't waste meeting time on goal dispute.
Can goal be changed after meeting in minutes?
No, this is manipulation. Minutes should reflect reality—what goal was stated and whether it was achieved. If goal not achieved—honestly capture this and plan continuation.
How to formulate goal for new project kickoff meeting?
Be specific even for kickoff. Not "Project launch," but "Synchronize team on project goals, distribute roles, and agree on first sprint plan." Kickoff meeting should also have measurable result.
How to automate goal achievement verification?
Mymeet.ai analyzes discussion correspondence to stated goal. If goal is "Make contractor decision," AI verifies whether decision was made and captures it. If goal is "Generate 15 ideas," AI counts proposed ideas. Automatic verification saves time on manual minutes analysis.
Andrey Shcherbina
Nov 14, 2025
