On an average U.S. workday, 25 million meetings will take place. That’s time spent away from what many workers would consider their “real jobs.” And when those meetings are unproductive, it can mean a huge (albeit obscured) hit to the bottom line.

After calculating how much meetings cost in tied-up wages, overhead, and on-hold revenues, some companies attempt to reduce meeting frequency but generally fall short of making lasting improvements to their meeting processes. As a result, far too many meetings remain timewasters or morale-busters, and few leaders or workers understand how to conduct them effectively.

Here are 10 of the best ideas for making meetings more manageable and more productive.

1. Make everyone responsible for effectiveness. By default, most managers run meetings, so training them on how to conduct meetings makes good sense. But staff, too, should be trained, both on conducting meetings and on contributions they can make as attendees. Meeting attendees play an equal role in ensuring productive outcomes. By providing training to everyone, you’ll increase the chance that important productivity lessons will be followed.
   
   
2. Avoid update-only meetings. Why pull people away from work and into meetings only to share updates they can easily read online or on paper? Focus your meetings on strategic issues and problem solving, not about the latest call-center figures or changes in housekeeping policies.
   
   
3. Separate meetings according to purpose. Different meetings require different approaches. A monthly strategy session should differ from weekly project management meetings in terms of content, attendees, and the amount of time needed to address issues. Don’t try to cover too many projects or topics in one meeting. Instead, identify meetings by the types of problems they must address to ensure that the right meeting focuses on the right issues and includes only the right attendees.
   
   
4. Be prepared. Establish a clear focus for the meeting by creating an agenda. Identify the subject, the purpose, and what you hope the meeting will achieve. Then distribute it to attendees in advance and ask them to come prepared with questions and ideas. You’ll save time when everyone is clear on what the meeting is designed to accomplish.
   
   
5. Set time limits and priorities and stick to them. An agenda should include times for the meeting’s start and finish, as well as time allotments for each item to be discussed. Use the agenda to prevent individuals from dominating discussions and hijacking meetings. To further ensure the meeting starts on time, put the most urgent issue on the agenda first.
   
   
6. Practice active listening to keep attendees on task. Offer brief reviews of what’s been said throughout the meeting. Rephrase all ideas into the context of the entire discussion. This will create further accountability and maintain the meeting’s proper focus.
   
   
7. Give everyone the opportunity to contribute. Create an environment that will encourage participation from all attendees. The greater the participation, the better the ideas and, ultimately, the decisions. If some individuals appear reticent, ask them directly for their thoughts, or prompt discussion indirectly by asking, “Can anyone think of an issue we may be overlooking?”
   
   
8. Support conflict as a way to avert conformity. To stimulate creative and diverse ideas, many organizations encourage positive conflict. While it’s okay to disagree, leaders must maintain civility within the group.
   
   
9. Stand up or walk it out. Requiring everyone to stand during a meeting is a popular means of keeping the process moving. Walking meetings can also be a productive approach to problem solving or idea generation.
   
   
10. Summarize and follow up. Recap the meeting so that everyone understands what was discussed and what follow-up tasks are expected. To avoid rehashed meetings in the future, make certain every participant acts on the decisions made.