Archives for "Meetings"

1. Give each meeting a title – such as Fact-Finding, Brainstorming, Information Exchange- that explains its purpose.
2. Lock out latecomers to spread the message that promptness is mandatory.
3. Vary seating arrangements, both to get people from different departments to mix, and to keep buddies from distracting each other.
4. Distribute written materials, before or after the meeting- not during it, or people will spend their time reading rather than participating.
5. Rotate meeting leadership to encourage responsibility and preparation.

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1. Don’t try to cover too much ground in one meeting
2. Listen – don’t do all the talking
3. Don’t let the conversation drift. Stay on the subject
4. Avoid drawn-out arguments. They prove nothing and defeat the purpose of the meeting
5. Don’t get discouraged if the meeting doesn’t meet your expectations. It takes a while to get the knack of conducting successful ones.

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Are all those meetings really necessary? Before holding your next one, consider the alternatives:

1. One-on-one visits. Advantage: They’re short, private and less likely to create misunderstanding.
2. Email / Memos . Useful for communicating statistical and factual information. Advantages:
- They give people time to respond in writing
- The written documents/e-mail provide a permanent record
3. Telephone calls. Advantage: the same as one-on-one visits – and you don’t have to leave the office. But a bit of caution, phone calls can be a time-wasters too.

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You may be spending 25% to 30% of your time in meetings, according to a recent study – and that doesn’t count the hours spent preparing for them. To deal with the information glut, experts recommends that you:

1. Set aside a quiet time after each meeting to reflect on what just happened.
2. Decide on what action you need to take as a result of the meeting.
3. Write your tasks in clear, complete sentences – youd don;t want to waste time deciphering them later.

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Distribute an agenda to all participants before a meeting, suggest experts. Reasons:
1. Participants have time to prepare and more to contribute
2. No time is wasted choosing the topics of discussion

Recommended: Select discussion topics at the end of previous meeting, and build the agenda on that

Also useful: Concentrate on a few major points, all related in some way. If you have to deal with unrelated issues, schedule another, shorter meeting,

Key: Tighten up your agenda, but leave room for creativity. Divide meetings into structured items (financial reporting, operations, etc.) and creative items (marketing strategy, long-range planning etc.) Open, formal discussions encourage creative thinking.

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Where you sit at business meeting can enhance your image in the company. Two pieces of expert advice:
1. Arrive early so you can take a position directly across from the person running the meeting. This gives you the chance for lots of eye contact with the leader, which will help when you want to ask a question or make a comment.
2. Don’t sit next to your boss. The boss will probably get all the attention. You’ll be invisible, which will make participation more difficult.

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