- meetings were scheduled as part of the routine. We always have meeting on Mondays.
- agenda was not made known in advance.
- the chairman or organizers arrived late.. they were busy indicating their importance.
- time was not followed, meeting of 1 hour extended to 3 hours.
So below is an article selected from ezinearticle.com
-------------------------
In in effort to I
Meetings are an important element of our corporate landscape. They are generally conducted to achieve two key goals: exchanging information and making decisions. Much time is spent conducting meetings, but, unfortunately still the rule, significant resources are lost by ineffective meetings.
Effective Meetings
Meetings are an important element of our corporate landscape. They are generally conducted to achieve two key goals: exchanging information and making decisions. Much time is spent conducting meetings, but, unfortunately still the rule, significant resources are lost by ineffective meetings.
The presenter, although very important, is only a part contributing to successful meetings; the audience is as important. Since higher ranks play a specific exemplary role in the corporate world, their professional conduct deserves particular attention.
The following list provides easy-to-apply guidelines that increase efficiency of most meetings and with that, help organizations to improve their competitive potency. It is ordered by: Issue - Who - Explanation.
Meeting Preparations
Invitations
- Presenter
- Invite early. Everyone has a busy schedule and other urgent tasks to execute. Providing sufficient time to plan allows the attendees to arrange and make themselves available. If important people are unavailable at the planned day and time, early invitations allow re-scheduling. Many professionals plan their schedule on a weekly base, therefore: invite - at least - one week before the meeting.
Invite electronically
- Presenter
- Electronic invitations have many advantages. They document the event and they list all invitees, which makes it less likely to forget individuals. If it turns out that someone has been forgotten - it is quite easy to send the invitation to this individual.
Most electronic systems put an entry automatically in the calendar, which helps planning schedules and even reminds when the meeting is due.
Respond to electronic invitations.
- Audience
- When getting an electronic invitation, responding is more than appropriate etiquette. The inviter needs to know if the person has received the invitation and if he is available. If the timing of one or more invitees does conflict with their schedule, the inviter has to look for a new opening. But this is only possible if he is aware of the actual situation. Pressing the respond-button is not more difficult that pressing the minimize- or exit button of the screen.
Don't overload slides
- Presenter
- Despite the fact that overloaded slides are barely readable, this practice may suggest that the presenter is trying to deny the audience proper documentation, papers that probably should have been attached to the invitation. Respect the audiences time by providing adequate documentation.
Attach required documents
- Presenter
- Electronic invitations offer an easy way to attach documentation that is needed for the meeting. Use this feature, but use it wisely. Attach only documents that are really needed for the meeting, don't attach encyclopedias, no one will read them. If you want to provide extended information, simply offer links.
Attach up-to-date documents
- Presenter
- It is a great difference whether information changed last minute or if information is distributed when not yet finished. It is frustrating for the audience to spent time reading your documents, only to see very different actual information. You always can invite early and announce that supporting information will be provided later, just remember to send the information at the promised day
Read information that is attached to the invitation
- Audience
- Educated decisions can be made when sufficient information is available. The inviter spent a significant amount of his time to prepare the meeting. Whether the purpose of meeting is solving a problem, defining a strategy or moving the company to the next level, your presence is important. Attend the meeting informed.
Check & prepare the equipment before the meeting takes place
- Presenter
- Most meetings rely on additional tools like projectors or video conference systems. Keeping attendees waiting while trying to control equipment is the worst way to utilize meeting-time. Even if it "worked yesterday", valuable time is lost. Make sure the equipment is working properly.
The same applies to booting computers. Even if It takes "only a couple of minutes", these are ineffective, wasted minutes. Practiced presenters start presenting at the time they invited to.
The Meeting
Be there in time
- Presenter
- Being late at the own meeting signals that even the presenter has "more important things to do". Right from the beginning the standards and expectations of the meeting are significantly lowered. Be there in time - better too early than a minute too late.
Be there in time
- Audience
- Even if your schedule is very busy, be there in time. Having a round of important people waiting or even worst, having people looking for you is plain unprofessional. A simple example: If 6 people have to wait only 10 minutes, a full hour of corporate productivity has just been irrevocably consumed.
Always remember the golden rule (categorical imperative): treat your pears the way you want to be treated.
Be there in time
- Ranks
- Everyone in the organization deals with a busy schedule; on top of this, the higher the rank the more responsibility is carried. One particular behavior can be observed frequently: as higher the rank as later the individual arrives. Obviously a result of a busy schedule, but the rule of wasted productivity applies as well. True professionalism of ranks is demonstrated, providing new standards for commitment and in-time delivery, by being there in time - despite their busy schedules.
Skip small talk
- All
- Excitement after big games or other important public events is only natural - but it does not belong in meetings; even not to loosen up the atmosphere. Professionals are able to skip the warm-up and concentrate straight on the facts.
Style of presenting
- Presenter
- There are many as many ways of presenting as there are presenters. The worst kind is however: reading the presentation. Even if the facts are important, the audience's perception will be different. If speech support is needed, keyword cards help, or better: one page with keywords (not sentences) provides confidence and structure. Be yourself and talk the way you always talk about subjects - the audience will appreciate this.
Pay attention
- Audience
- If documentation has been distributed, people usually look at it right away. Unfortunately important facts just provided by the presenter are missed. To catch up, neighbors are asked about the subject, which makes him not getting information during his explanation as well. If documents are distributed at the beginning of the presentation keep track at the same pace as the presenter, don't try to pass him.
Seasoned presenters provide documentation after the Q&A phase of the presentation.
Switch your mobile off.
- All
- Ringing mobiles not only disrupt the presentation, they show disrespect to both, presenter and the rest of the audience. If there is really no peer in the organization who can take your call during the meeting, the least one can do is to set the mobile to buzzer and keep it in the pocket or in the holster. A mobile crawling over the table while buzzing, is even more distracting that ringing. If you expect a call that is indeed more important than the meeting, choose a place close to the door. This way you can sneak out without disturbing the audience.
"Corporate prayer"
- Audience
- Smart phones are an important tool that can significantly increase individuals' efficiency - when used the right way. Reading and responding to emails during a meeting is not the right way.
Valuable information presented is missed while emailing. If the meeting is in fact not as important as the emails, why attending at all?
REM: The term "corporate prayer" origins from the posture while working the emails during a meeting: holding the smart phone under the table, hands closed, head tilted down, just like the devote posture during prayers.
No napping
- Audience
- While people perform often at their limits, and the darker environment during a presentation and somewhat relaxed atmosphere invites to "re-charge the batteries", napping during meetings is highly unprofessional.
If an individual feels slipping energy and that the body demands his rest, standing-up and positioning against a wall helps. It is nearly impossible to sleep and stand and paying attention while standing is much less intrusive than napping.
Involve all participants
- Presenter
- Responding to questions and discussing points are often the meeting's highlight. It is important to involve all participants; this is why they are here in the first place. Communication time is often imbalanced towards people who really like to talk. In a smaller meeting, actively address everyone. To finish within the planned time, it might require cutting "communicators" short.
Don't delay decisions
- All
- It could actually be an ideal situation: making decisions while the required decision makers are gathered. Unfortunately decisions are often postponed to an unspecified other meeting. The rationale behind this is not clear. If all required people are assembled, the facts for decisions are available and time permits make decisions now. This frees time in the future which will contribute to the well being of the organization.
Finish in time
- Presenter
- Finishing meetings in time is not only a sign of professionalism; it is a necessity to keep the corporate clockwork running smoothly. Everyone of your audience is quite busy and may even have scheduled other meetings adjacent to yours. Set a realistic time for your meeting, don't try to "lure" the audience in your meeting by offering a short meeting, while your know quite well it will take longer. Put in a realistic time, and if you are not sure use a longer meeting time at your invitation. This way the audience can arrange their busy day accordingly. If the meeting is finished earlier - even better.
After the meeting
Write down minutes and distribute them
- Presenter
- If decisions have been made during a meeting, distributed minutes are paramount. If the results are not provided in a written form, they will soon be replaced in the participants' minds by other important issues and tasks. Writing and distributing minutes will make the meeting result official and is invaluable when information needs to be looked up later.
Enjoy your next meeting.
Deiton.
Wolfgang "Deiton" Damm can build on over 25 years of management experience in different industries. With engineering and business degrees, Deiton embraces managerial, organizational, marketing and technical disciplines. He is author of a book and patent holder. Deiton writes articles and blogs onbetter business practices. Author Links Business/Social Network Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wolfgang_Damm |
No comments:
Post a Comment