5 Tips to Ensure Participants Remain Attentive and Productive During Long Meetings  

Believe it or not, human beings now have lower attention spans than goldfish. In fact, the average human attention span is about eight seconds, as opposed to the goldfish’s nine. Add to that the never-ending flow of emails, texts, and social media alerts that we all receive, and it can become very difficult to focus during the working day. This is a particular problem during meetings, when people come together to focus – literally – on a particular topic or issue.

I, too, have struggled to maintain my focus, and that of my team, during marathon meetings and training sessions. Through trial and error, I’ve identified five key ways to help keep participants attentive and engaged to ensure meetings are productive:

Set the stage. It’s important to plan and organize your meeting in advance so everyone can be on the same page from the get-go. Similarly, it’s crucial that you identify the core objectives and expected outcomes so you have clear goals to work toward collectively. The most effective way to do this is by creating a well-defined agenda that includes timestamps for each part of the meeting. A useful agenda includes discussion items that set clear expectations to keep everyone on track – and rein the team in when off-topic conversations inevitably arise.

To create a strong agenda, identify the main purpose of the meeting. For example, are you trying to define a problem statement, respond to an expressed need or challenge, conduct employee training, or facilitate a meeting with partners to discuss the group’s latest initiatives? Then, collate a structured agenda that makes clear the various steps the group will take to achieve your shared goal and the desired outcome. Share the agenda with all participants at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting so that they can complete any background reading or other required pre-work. This prep time will enable everyone to make meaningful and on-topic contributions to the group discussion.

Facilitate or be facilitated. As a facilitator, your role is to remain neutral as you guide the conversation and help the group achieve its objectives. This neutrality and focus on facilitation is especially important in extended working sessions and workshops, so it is best that the facilitator does not have a stake in the outcome of the meeting.

Being a facilitator is also a balancing act: You need to pay attention to the conversation at hand while ensuring that everyone is properly engaged, and adapt to the unique dynamics of a given meeting to make the session more thoughtful, cohesive, and enjoyable.

Understandably, you’re not going to have an independent facilitator in most of your day-to-day meetings. If you are leading a meeting and are also a stakeholder in the outcome, be aware of your different contexts and be clear with other meeting participants when you’re switching between them. We often have to wear many hats in a given day, so making the costume change obvious helps reinforce understanding and maintain the overarching spirit of collaboration.

Additionally, especially during long meetings, an effective facilitator should try to get full and sustained participation from the group. Keep an eye out for those who may be losing focus and try to re-engage them in the conversation. This is particularly important for anyone participating by phone or video conference. Drooping body language, lack of eye contact, turning to devices, or just plain silence are all signs that people may have drifted away from the discussion or activity. Take a moment and ask the group for feedback or to share a quick observation to confirm (or deny) that things are moving in the right direction. You can also interject with a quick stretch, physical activity, or impromptu break.

People can also become disengaged when conversation veers off topic, so it is crucial to bring the group back to the agenda. Agree to put items in the parking lot and, as part of closing out your session, outline next steps and action items, including a plan for addressing parking-lot items.

Build in transitions and breaks. Sitting for long periods of time is not conducive to high-energy and focused meetings. Fatigue – both literally and figuratively – will really start to set in around the three-hour mark, so be sure to include strategically placed breaks – roughly every two hours – during long meetings. You can even get creative by encouraging everyone to take a 10-minute walk together or playing some fun music in the room as a way to clear everyone’s heads before you pick back up.

Depending on the group and topics being discussed, consider taking even smaller breaks more often to allow people to stretch their legs and get their blood flowing. If you catch a lot of people hitting a wall, inject an activity like asking everyone to change seats with each other or playing a short focus game – little changes can have a big impact. My favorite is a quick game in which participants pair up and recite a couple rounds of alternating numbers while making direct eye contact. Ultimately, the most important thing is to give people enough breaks from group activity to recharge and refresh in whatever way they prefer – including checking emails.

Connect with your audience and connect your audience to each other. Understand that not everyone is naturally inclined to participate in group meetings, let alone hours-long gatherings that can seem intimidating by the very nature of their length. Where appropriate, add peer-to-peer activities that encourage participation and help everyone get comfortable with one another. For example, LUMA Institute offers a system using activity-based, human-centered design methods that shift people away from the talking and theorizing mode into one of making and doing. Even the use of simple tools like Post-its and markers can give the group something tangible and tactile to reflect on and validate together. Seeing a visualization of an importance/difficulty matrix or physically clustering topics to create shared priorities are examples of activities that have led to collective “a-ha” moments for a broad spectrum of stakeholders.

It’s also helpful to ask open-ended questions throughout the meeting to keep everyone on their toes and make them feel like their opinions are contributing to the outcome of the session. Creating an inclusive environment also shows that all perspectives are truly welcome.

Making space for individuals who may be naturally quiet and uncomfortable breaking into a large group discussion can elevate engagement and bring out important perspectives that might otherwise go unsaid. If you notice that someone isn’t contributing or seems particularly quiet, consider asking her to share her thoughts with the group, or checking in with him at the next break.

In larger group settings, use body language to connect with everyone in the room. Put yourself in different positions or physical locations so that you can see everyone, and try to make eye contact with everyone individually at various points during the meeting. This will make your participants feel welcomed, included, and engaged.

Combine interactive methods with interactive technology. With today’s remote workforce and different time zones, individuals no longer need to be physically present to participate in a meeting. Incorporate the use of technology to create a more collaborative experience for remote and in-person participants alike. MURAL, for example, offers a shared digital workspace and supporting tools so everyone can participate at the “whiteboard,” regardless of their physical location, and ensures that you capture the full breadth of contributions and perspectives from across the working team.

Video conferencing is another effective way to bring remote audiences together. There is no replacing the ability to make eye contact and see each other’s faces, especially when you’re in a marathon meeting. Visual connection really does help people stay more engaged and present.

Bringing people together for lengthy meetings represents a significant investment of time – both for the individuals involved and the organization. As a meeting leader, you have a great responsibility to ensure that time is used wisely and delivers on your objectives. While these tips are geared toward longer sessions, different pieces can be extracted to make even the shortest of meetings more effective and meaningful.