Meeting Tips: Managing Meetings as Projects within a PARA Environment
Meetings, often the bane of productivity, can transform into powerhouses of efficiency when managed as projects—particularly within a PARA framework. PARA, which stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives, is an organizational system that can revolutionize meeting management. Here’s how you can apply it to turn meetings into actionable, organized, and productive projects.
Step 1: Set Up Your Meetings as Projects
In a PARA system, set your meetings up as a ‘Project’, so tracking ‘Tasks’ within come with ease. This is where you’ll collect and organize everything related to the meeting.
I personally have three “master categories” for my work Area.
- Routine Meetings: Regularly scheduled meetings—weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly—each get their own project.
- Month Start/End Tasks: These are the monthly milestones, covering everything from content creation to marketing updates.
- Area Projects: Serving as the catch-all category, this shows projects outside routine or monthly tasks, such as special events or major campaigns.
Step 2: Collect Topics as Tasks
As issues, questions, or discussion points arise throughout the week, add them as ‘Tasks’ within your meeting project. Tag these tasks with ‘Meeting Topic’ to signify they need to be addressed. This practice ensures that important points are captured in real-time and nothing is overlooked. Reassigning topics and tasks to future dates is a breeze.
Step 3: Organize and Prioritize Topics
Before the meeting, block 15 – 30 minutes to review your ‘Meeting Topics.’ Determine their priority and estimate the time needed to address each. Organize them into a coherent agenda that flows logically and makes the most of your meeting time. The right tool—Google Docs, Smartsheet, or email—makes dissemination to the larger team simple.
Step 4: Convert Discussion Points to Actions
During the meeting, if you run a collaborative Notion environment, update the task status and notes as each topic is discussed. If a decision is made or an action is required, re-tag the task accordingly—’Action Required,’ ‘Delegated,’ or another status that fits your workflow, like ‘Backlog’ for non-urgent items, or ‘Abandoned’ for discarded ideas.
If your Notion environment is your own (like mine is), record meeting minutes somewhere that everyone can access them. I personally use Smartsheet for meeting minutes. Book another 30 minutes after your meetings so you can put the necessary information where it needs to go.
Step 5: Follow Through with the PARA Method
After the meeting, manage the outcomes using the PARA framework:
- Projects: Move tasks that require immediate action into relevant project folders. (You can assign more than one Project per Task!)
- Areas: Assign tasks to specific areas of responsibility for oversight and completion.
- Resources: If a task requires input or information gathering, link it to the related resource.
- Archives: For completed or obsolete items, Archive them to keep your active lists clutter-free.
Step 6: Follow Up
With your organized list of topics, sending out the pre-meeting agenda was simple and effective. Now, post-meeting, distribute the minutes with clearly defined actions, owners, and deadlines. This reinforces accountability and keeps everyone aligned.
I typically link to the Smartsheet meeting minutes. Otherwise, i just list topics, deadlines, and assignees within the email.
Conclusion: Turning Meetings into Productive Sessions
Meetings, when managed as projects within a PARA structure, evolve into goal-oriented, action-driving sessions. While implementing this system may initially require some adaptation and learning, the gains in productivity and operational clarity justify the effort.