01
Booked by default
The calendar decides the length and the invite list decides the room, so meetings run long with people who did not need to be there.
Camderson Academy · CA-LM-013
Run shorter meetings that end in clear decisions and actions.
A practical, self-paced course for anyone who leads or calls a meeting, in every role and department. Learn to decide when a meeting is needed, design it around questions, hear from everyone, reach decisions and leave with actions that get done.
About 2.5 hours · 6 lessons with video · Beginner · Self-paced · Tools and templates you keep · 30-day money-back guarantee
Everyone came. Few left with anything to do.
02
Talk without decisions
A topic list invites discussion, not answers. The same item comes back week after week because nobody said how it would be decided.
03
Actions that vanish
Someone should look into that is not an action. Without an owner and a date, good ideas leave the room and never return.
Learning outcomes
What you will be able to do
Six practical outcomes, each practiced in an exercise and checked in the final assessment or the capstone.
- Decide whether a meeting is the right tool, and name the outcome it must produce.
- Design a meeting around questions, with a right-sized length and only the people each question needs.
- Open on time and bring in every voice, including people joining by phone or video.
- Keep discussion on track and reach clear decisions, with everyone knowing how the choice will be made.
- Close every meeting with decisions read back and actions that each have an owner, a date and a first step.
- Follow up within a day and make each meeting a little better than the last.
The Camderson method
Teaching tools for better meetings, starting with your next one
The Meet or Not Check and the Question Agenda
Outcome · Conversation · People · Question · Type · Owner · Minutes
Decide whether to meet at all, then design a shorter meeting where every item is a question with an owner, and only the people each question needs are in the room.
The Strong Start and Every Voice moves
Purpose · Questions · Roles · How we work · Silent start · Round · Call first
Open on time in ninety seconds and hear from everyone, including the quiet expert and the people joining by phone or video.
The Decision Path and the Action Close
Name the method · Surface what is unshared · Options · Decide out loud · Owner, what, by when, first step
Reach decisions everyone heard the same way, and protect the last five minutes so every action leaves with an owner and a date.
The 24-Hour Recap, Two-Minute Meeting Check and Meeting Scorecard
Recap within a day · Rate, plus, delta · One row per meeting
Close the loop for everyone, including people you chose not to invite, and make each meeting a little better than the last.
Meet on purpose. Hear everyone. Close with commitments.
Curriculum
Inside the course
Three modules, 6 lessons with worked examples and video
01
Design Meetings Worth Attending
The Meet or Not Check for deciding whether to meet at all, and the Question Agenda for designing a shorter meeting with the right people.
02
Facilitate the Meeting
The Strong Start and Every Voice moves for opening on time and hearing from everyone, and the Decision Path for reaching clear decisions.
03
Close and Follow Through
The Action Close for turning talk into commitments, and the 24-Hour Recap, Two-Minute Meeting Check and Meeting Scorecard for getting better every time.
What is included
Skills, tools and templates you keep and use at work
- 6 lessons, each with a written lesson, worked examples and a figure, and a narrated lesson video, at your own pace
- A running example from Larchmere Valley Water District, a fictional public utility where a customer care team lead redesigns a weekly cross-department meeting, alongside colleagues in engineering, finance and field operations
- A fillable Workbook with Try it and Reflect pages for every lesson
- A Meeting Toolkit (Word) with a template for every tool and a filled example of each
- A Meeting Planner and Scorecard spreadsheet with live formulas for agenda fit, person-hours, action follow-through and meeting trends, plus Larchmere practice files with solutions
- Quick Reference Cards and the Larchmere Case Pack
- An optional visual companion PDF with every lesson slide, plus a dated list of every source used, with links
- Knowledge checks for every module and a 20-question final assessment
- A Meeting Plan and Follow-Through Kit capstone for a meeting you lead or a fictional food bank, reviewed by a person
- A Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion when you pass the final assessment and the capstone
- Access to the Camderson Academy community
Is this course right for you?
This course is for you if
- You lead or call meetings, in any role or department, and want them shorter and more useful
- Your meetings run long, drift, or end without anyone sure who is doing what
- You want everyone in the room, and on the call, to contribute what they know
It is not the right fit if
- You want to review all of a team's recurring meetings and its weekly rhythm (CA-LM-003 Building High-Performing Teams covers the team Meeting Audit)
- You need to plan a high-stakes difficult conversation (CA-LM-002 Leadership Communication & Difficult Conversations goes deeper)
- You need HR or legal advice, or rules for formal board or public meetings (the course points you to HR or a qualified adviser)
Your instructor
Meet your instructor
Ruben Tejada
MA, MS, PHR
Managing Partner · Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
Ruben Tejada is a strategic advisor and organizational leader whose career spans healthcare, public service, human resources, operations, and learning and development. He has advised executives and leaders on leadership development, talent development, employee experience, culture and succession planning, and has led initiatives to strengthen leadership accountability and build workforce capability. Years of building and facilitating workplace trainings, academies and cross-department working sessions give him a practical view of what makes time together worth it. In this course he helps you run meetings people are glad they attended: shorter, focused on real questions, open to every voice and ending in clear decisions and actions.
About
About Camderson Academy
Camderson Academy is the education division of Camderson Advisory Services. Camderson helps leaders build organizations that work without them in the room. Everything we teach has been used in a real organization first.
Training a team?
We offer group enrollment for teams and whole organizations that want every person, in every role and department, to share the same meeting tools and language. Email connect@camderson.com to talk through your group.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need any experience or a previous course?
No. This is a beginner course with no prior course needed. It works whether you run a weekly team meeting, a project check-in, a committee or a daily huddle.
Who is this course for?
Anyone who leads or calls a meeting, in every role and every department: team members, coordinators, specialists, project leads, supervisors, managers, owners and volunteers. The examples move across customer care, engineering, finance and field operations, and the capstone uses a community food bank.
How long do I have access?
Your access does not expire. We review the course regularly, and any updates are added for you at no extra cost.
How long does it take?
About 2.5 hours in total, including the written lessons and their videos, the Try it exercises, the knowledge checks, the final assessment and the capstone. Everything is self-paced, and most exercises use a real meeting you lead.
Do I have to use my own meeting for the capstone?
No. You can build your Meeting Plan and Follow-Through Kit for the fictional Bellweather Community Food Bank using the brief included. If you use your own meeting, use roles instead of names and leave out personal and confidential details.
Is this HR or legal advice?
No. This course is general education about running meetings. It is not HR or legal advice. If a meeting topic involves possible harassment, discrimination, safety, health, leave, pay, discipline or another workplace policy or legal issue, take it out of the group meeting, involve HR or a qualified adviser, and follow your organization's policies, including any rules on public meetings and records that apply to you.
Is the certificate accredited, or does it carry professional credit?
Neither. You receive a Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion after passing the final assessment and the capstone, a Meeting Plan and Follow-Through Kit that a person reviews. It is not an academic credential and does not carry continuing education, continuing professional education (CPE) or other professional credit.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes. You are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If the course is not right for you, email connect@camderson.com within 30 days of purchase and we will refund you in full. No questions asked. Your course access ends when the refund is issued.
What tools do I need?
A spreadsheet program that opens .xlsx files (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers or LibreOffice Calc), a word processor that opens .docx files and a PDF reader.
Meet on purpose. Hear everyone. Close with commitments.
Self-paced, about 2.5 hours, with a Workbook, a Meeting Toolkit, a Meeting Planner and Scorecard and Quick Reference Cards to help you run shorter meetings that end in clear decisions and actions.
Backed by our 30-day money-back guarantee.
This course earns a Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion. It is not an academic credential and does not carry continuing education, continuing professional education (CPE) or other professional credit. This course is general education about running meetings. It is not HR or legal advice. If a meeting topic involves possible harassment, discrimination, safety, health, leave, pay, discipline or another workplace policy or legal issue, take it out of the group meeting, involve HR or a qualified adviser, and follow your organization's policies, including any rules on public meetings and records that apply to you.