A well-planned meeting is always the ideal, but they’re not always possible. Often, the need for spontaneous collaboration and quick decision making is required in order to deal with an urgent situation. In this case, you will need to organise an ad hoc meeting.

Ad hoc meetings are different to regular meetings and will require a slightly different approach. In this blog, we explore the differences between ad hoc meetings and regular meetings, how to know when an ad hoc meeting is required, and how to conduct an efficient last-minute meeting.

What’s the difference between an ad hoc meeting and a regular meeting?

An ad hoc meeting will differ to a regular meeting because it will be a meeting that hasn’t been planned for. It will be held for a previously unforeseen situation that requires immediate attention.

So, one of the differences between an ad hoc meeting and a regular meeting is that it may consist of a more informal agenda. Attendees and the organiser will not have had as much time to prepare as they may usually have for a meeting, so they may be required to think on their feet. Typically with an ad hoc meeting, decisions will need to be made and actioned quickly, whereas with a regular meeting, there may be a little more grace for people to implement actions.

When to call a last minute ad hoc meeting

A last-minute ad hoc meeting should only be called when absolutely necessary. Pulling people into a meeting with little warning will interrupt their day, and it can take a while for people to get back into their flow following the meeting, no matter how short it is.

Wherever possible, you should aim to give people plenty of notice to attend a meeting. However, there will be situations where this just isn’t possible, and an ad hoc meeting will be required. This could include an emergency situation, or it could be due to an opportunity that has arisen that has a short deadline and requires immediate action. It could be that feedback is required from team members right away, or urgent updates on a project are needed. It might be that there is confusion about what is required from the team, and a meeting is needed to provide clarification so people can get on with their work with clear objectives.

Even in these situations, you should still consider whether a meeting is the best solution. It may be that an email or phone call with just one or two participants will suffice. Sometimes, the issue might be too complex to discuss via email or might involve too many people – in this instance, a meeting may be the answer.

You should also consider the impact of holding a last-minute meeting and way up the costs versus the rewards. Disrupting someone’s day is never ideal, but it may just be better to do this than to not hold the meeting at all.

How to run an efficient ad hoc meeting

Ad hoc meetings usually address high-priority needs, so it’s essential that they’re run efficiently.

Set clear meeting objectives and an agenda

Even though an ad hoc meeting will have little preparation time, it’s still important to set clear meeting objectives. These goals can be short and succinct but having them set will help to keep everyone focused, leading to more productive outcomes.

Once you have the objectives, you can put together an agenda. This can be more informal than a usual meeting agenda but should still cover the most vital points. If possible, this should be distributed to attendees before the meeting – even sending it around 10 minutes before will allow people to prepare a little and start thinking about what’s required. This can help to save valuable time in the meeting itself.

Only invite key stakeholders

A last minute ad hoc meeting will likely be disruptive to attendees’ days. So, you should try to minimise this disruption by only inviting the key stakeholders. This should include only the people who are directly involved with the situation and/or have the necessary knowledge and expertise in the matter.

Sometimes, it might be best to include people who will be affected by the decisions made in the meeting, but this might not always be possible. It might be more practical to just invite team leaders, and let them distribute and delegate information and actions to their team once the decisions have been made.

Keep the meeting on track

Time will likely be short during the meeting. So, it’s essential that discussions are focused and kept on track. You should refer to the meeting agenda to make sure everything that needs to be covered is covered, in the most efficient way possible. If conversations get side-tracked, you should guide people back to the agenda.

Sometimes, a conversation might arise that could be valuable but isn’t totally relevant to the current issue. In that instance, make a note of what was said and organise another meeting or informal phone call to continue the discussion at a later date.

Encourage participation

Although a last-minute ad hoc meeting should be succinct, you should still encourage participation from the attendees. If you don’t need to collaborate in the meeting, then there might not be any reason to hold the meeting, and an informative email might be better.

In order to encourage collaboration, you should ensure your meeting room has the necessary communication tools. This could include flipcharts, whiteboards, and even a projection screen if you need everyone to see something, such as a website or analytics tool. You should take notes where everyone can see them and refer to them during the meeting, so they can bounce off the ideas of other people.

Keep to the scheduled time

It’s important for most meetings to keep to the scheduled time, but this is even more significant for ad hoc meetings. A last-minute meeting should start and end on time, to minimise disruption to attendees’ days.

Keeping to the allotted time will also help to keep the meeting focused. When you’re strict on timekeeping, you’ll be more aware that you need to keep to the agenda and make quick decisions. You should either assign yourself or another attendee the responsibility to keep track of the time and gently remind people if things seem to be taking longer than planned.

Note actions and next steps

In order to conduct a productive ad hoc meeting, someone in attendance should take notes throughout. This should include the actions, who is responsible, and any deadlines for each action. Keeping a record of what was said and decided means there will be something for attendees to refer to once the meeting has ended, so they know exactly what is required of them.

You should send the notes out after the meeting is finished and ensure they go to everyone in attendance. If other members of the team that weren’t in attendance now have a responsibility, you should also ensure they are looped into communications.

You could also set out what the next steps will be to follow up on the decisions made in the meeting and the actions that have been set. It may be that another, planned meeting will be required in the future, or perhaps project reports will be more appropriate.

Ready for your ad hoc meeting?

Knowing how to plan and organise an ad hoc meeting is valuable knowledge. Now you will know how to handle it when an impromptu situation arises that requires urgent attention, and you will be able to act quickly and efficiently.

Nobo has a range of practical tools and solutions to help support effective meetings and communication in the workplace, including whiteboards, signage, notice boards and projection equipment. Take a look at our products today to see how we can help your business.