Yes, you should use a meeting Parking Lot (or bike lot or whatever term works for you). A Parking Lot can sometimes feel  cheesy , but it’s one of the most effectives tools for facilitating meetings effectively.

What is a Parking Lot?

A Parking Lot is a productivity and facilitation meeting tool that captures off-agenda conversation topics and ideas so as to prevent a meeting from veering off course. Items can be added to the Parking Lot and  assigned to folks or noted for discussion at a later date.

Why should you use a Parking Lot?

Meetings—especially dynamic ones— have a tendency to drift. Sometimes it’s because one or two attendees can’t help but take the conversations on tangents. Sometimes your discussion has led to a lot of wonderful ideating, but some of it can’t be resolved with the current group or within the allotted time for the meeting.

When you’re the person leading the meeting, you should anticipate this, and be prepared to keep the group driving toward your desired meeting outcomes.  The trouble is, these tangents, ideas, follow-ups, etc. are often worthy of further discussion. The participants in the meeting will consider these topics important to discuss.  A Parking Lot allows the group to acknowledge the importance of the topic AND hold the boundaries of what should be discussed during the meeting. 

How do you use a Parking Lot?

Start by establishing a designated space (in-person or virtual) to capture the ideas as they come up. Label the space as the “Parking Lot.” You can also add the sub-headings, “What,” and ‘“Who.” Then, after you open the meeting, point out the space and that it will be used to capture ideas worthy of further discussion, but outside of the meeting’s purpose. When someone mentions an idea or issue that is off-agenda but still important, ask them to add the idea to the Parking Lot. 

For most in-person meetings, a flip chart or designated area of the white board will suffice. For most virtual meetings, a section or table within your shared meeting notes works well.

For some meetings, you might find it worthwhile to get a little fancy and have multiple Parking Lots, or variations of the tool. For example, an innovation or brainstorming meeting might benefit from an “Additional Ideas” Parking Lot for ideas that surface related to other projects. A decision-making meeting might benefit from both a “Needs Further Research” and “Decisions To Make” Parking Lot. The Parking Lot concept can be useful both at bringing the conversation back on track and capturing meeting progress.

How do you ensure success?

In the long run, leveraging a Parking Lot will only work if you follow through on your promise to revisit the topics captured with it. Before your meeting ends, take the time to review every item and assign next steps and responsibilities as appropriate.

The next time you lead a meeting, give the Parking Lot a try and notice how it affects the dynamics of the discussion. 

What is your go-to simple meeting hack?