Meetings are an essential business process. Properly done, they lead to decisions, solutions, and agreements. Poorly done, they waste time and produce little.

Here are six quick tips to make sure your next meeting is a success.

1) Prepare an agenda that spends time based on the value of the expected results. Determine the results that you want, estimate their value, and then allocate appropriate amounts of time in the agenda. You want to run your meeting like a small business, which means you design the process to earn a profit on your investment.

2) Conduct the meeting with structured activities. These powerful, modern tools focus people’s attention on the issue and force progress toward results.

3) Present every issue as a question that leads to a result. This directs people’s thinking toward answers and solutions. For example, instead of saying, “Let’s talk about the marketing.” you should ask, “How can we change our web site to get 5% more sales?”

4) Include a facilitator. A well trained facilitator will run the meeting, which frees you to participate. It is impossible to do both—lead a meeting and participate in it. A facilitator will also propose structured activities, keep people focused on the issues, and help you make progress on your agenda.

5) Issue minutes. These document the results and serve to inform others about your work. Minutes should be brief, citing only key ideas, decisions, action items, and agreements. You can also use the minutes to track progress on action items.

6) Keep the meeting brief. Long meetings lull people into lethargy. After an hour, people take mental holidays to estimate the cost of the meeting, plan vacations, or ponder other agendas.