Are you looking for tips on how to work with a timekeeper during a meeting?

Do you want to know the exact role and responsibility of a timekeeper?

A timekeeper is a person who keeps track of time during a meeting.

Unfortunately, what many people fail to realize is that it is not the timekeeper’s job to manage, or run, the meeting.

That special job is reserved for the meeting administrator or leader.

It is this person’s responsibility to oversee the progress of the entire meeting.

Depending on your work situation, you may or may not manage meetings on a regular basis.

Still, it’s a good idea to have this skill under your belt in case you’re ever asked to run a meeting.

In this post, you’ll find some useful tips to help you work with a time keeper.

With careful planning, you too can have an efficient and timely meeting.

Determine the length of the meeting.

First things first, how long is your upcoming meeting? Is it an hour in length? Two hours? Thirty minutes?

If you haven’t yet determined your meeting length, you should do so now.

This step is important as it will help you plan how you’re going to utilize time within the meeting.

Take a moment to write down the start and end time of the meeting.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to determine the exact length of the meeting in minutes.

This can be anywhere from thirty, sixty, to ninety minutes, and so on.

Choose a trustworthy timekeeper.

You should take great care when selecting a timekeeper. Ideally, you’ll want someone who is trustworthy, attentive, and willing to work with you.

Consider lining up several potential timekeeper candidate in advance of the meeting.

You can ask people if they’d like to volunteer for the position.

You’ll want to avoid randomly assigning a timekeeper, as you may find yourself working with someone who won’t take their job seriously. 

Finalize your timekeeper selection a few days before the meeting so you can…

Review the meeting with your timekeeper.

It’s important both you and your timekeeper are on the same page when it comes to your meeting.

You can set aside a few minutes before the meeting begins so you can review the agenda together.

What items should you review? For starters, you’ll want to make note of the start and end time of the meeting, the length of the meeting, length of individual agenda items, and time references for agenda items.

You can ask your timekeeper to alert you at specific points during the meeting, such as halfway through the meeting, or fifteen minutes before the meeting is set to end.

Additionally, you should make arrangements to have your timekeeper sit next to, or close by you, at the meeting. This will make it easier for you to both see and hear one another.

Publicly acknowledge time checks during the meeting.

You’re sitting in your meeting and your timekeeper informs you there are twenty minutes left in the meeting.

What should you do? It’s a good idea to acknowledge time during a meeting.

Not only does this help make seamless connections to agenda items, it lets meeting attendees know you are actively tracking time in the meeting.

For example, you might say something like, “Thank you, Mary, for the time update. Let’s move on to the next topic on the agenda.”

Or, you might say something like, “Thanks, Stephen, for the fifteen-minute warning. We’re going to wrap-up our meeting now.” 

How about you? How do you work with a time keeper in a meeting? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!