The Guide to Hosting Successful Meetings

Meetings serve many different functions here at MLC, everything from weekly internal staff meetings to multi-million dollar contract negotiations. While our meetings cover a wide range, they are known by our clients and our team for being very good. This is because they are productive. I thought I'd take the time to share a couple of the characteristics of MLC meetings, which add up to a pretty robust system for achieving our three requirements. If you are able to follow these simple steps, you will greatly improve your meetings chance for success. Ask yourself: do you do the following things? Would they make your meetings more successful? Enjoy!

1) Have an agenda
Creating an agenda, and sending it out to meeting participants ahead of time, lets everyone know your meeting is the real deal. This may already be the status quo at your organization (so do it!) or it may be an entirely new concept (so do it!). Most importantly, and most overlooked, put the purpose of the meeting on the agenda! Is the purpose to determine the status of Phase III of Project B? Or is it to determine which sponge vendor to go with? Or is it to name the band? A good purpose statement will help the facilitator and attendees to come prepared (in terms of mindset and documents) and know what the outcome should be.
A good agenda will have the following:
• Purpose Statement
• Start Time
• End Time
• Date
• Location
• Attendees
• Facilitator's Name
• Agenda Topics (and time for each topic, if desired)
We had a client that held meetings where nothing was ever accomplished. We were warned that if we wanted to get anything done, we'd have to go one on one with people. Well, we set a meeting and sent the agenda out ahead of time with a purpose statement and stuck to that agenda. Attendees came, and they showed up on time, because they knew that we had a goal to accomplish! They came prepared (with documents and in the right mindset) and didn't waste time in the meeting.

2) Start on time
This also created a powerful message in the company just mentioned, and will certainly do so in any organization where nothing runs on time! It says that the meeting is important. We always make the promise that if a meeting starts on time we'll do everything in our power to end it on time - again an often novel concept in organizations!

3) Take Notes
There's a genius Dilbert cartoon where the usual suspects are doomed to repeating strategic planning sessions each quarter because no one takes notes and no one remembers the strategic initiatives. While it may seem silly to take notes on what seems to be a non critical or easily "rememberable" meeting, I have found that it most definitley pays being safe than sorry. Taking notes is an absolute necessity in brainstorming, and oftentimes what starts out as a formal meeting has quite a bit of really great brainstorming that you do not want forgotten . . . Assign a notetaker (and put their name on the agenda). In some cases, we'll have a previous meeting recap at meetings by the notetaker to refresh our memories on what we were talking about. Another option, which we do at our staff meetings, is record the meeting and make it available to attendees (and those that were not able to attend) online via SharePoint.

4) Facilitate Properly
If all else fails, facilitate your meeting! Some of our clients yell at each other in our meetings, others repeatedly nod their heads at the boss man. Proper facilitation can lead you to your desired outcomes whatever the "tone" of the meeting.
As a facilitator, your primary goal is to ensure that the meeting is heading in a good direction. Be careful! This doesn't necessarily mean what's on the agenda! I beleive having a good facilitator is much more important than assigning a "time keeper" to ensure the meeting agenda is followed precisely. Healthy discourse is where great ideas and solutions are borne. You don't want to stifle creativity - especially if it’s the bosses or the clients! Based on a very successful practice of one of our older clients, we have begun instituting a "Parking Lot" in our facilitated meetings. The "Parking Lot" is a place on a white board or flip chart to write down unrelated topics that come up that are dropped for later discussion. If the meeting agenda is centered on what is needed to complete a project, and Bill and Judy get in a conversation about a new marketing concept, it is up to the facilitator to guide the discussion that way or put it in the Parking Lot for later. If there is time at the end of the meeting, go over these topics or put them on the next agenda.
Facilitation is a craft. Understanding when to push people along or let a topic develop, whether to start on time or wait for key participants, or what type of presentation to create, is a skill that can be developed. Also important is not to impose a meeting structure that is strikingly different than your current "meeting culture." Change for the better is a good thing, but not if everyone is immediatley put off!

5) Bring the right collateral
Things seem more "real" to people when they can hold them. I find handouts to be a great addition to most meetings. People are generally more receptive to something right in front of them as opposed to on a projected screen. Death By PowerPoint is a real phenomenon! Is there a uTube clip you could show to stimulate discussion or prove a point? An interesting article? A picture? Pictures, charts, and diagrams are great additions to stories or examples. I also find passing things out, as opposed to have it all piled up and waiting, to produce more stimulous.

6) Keep it light
Keep it light! Checklisting a list of tasks does not usually constitute a good meeting. People will participate more (hence the reason of getting everyone together in the first place!) if the meeting is enjoyable (read: NOT cold or sterile). The facilitator must use their judgement to decide how much joking around is ok, but some is almost always tolerable.

7) Meeting Recap
Always leave time on the agenda (at least 5-10 minutes) for a meeting recap. If the meeting is more informal or short we don’t waste time recalling everything that is said. Instead we focus on reviewing Action Items (if there were any) and when the next meeting will occur. A solid meeting will have a solid wrap up and closure.

8) End on time
If you end on time, people will be more willing to attend future meetings, plain and simple. Getting out earlier is the "bribe" for starting on time and staying focused. If you're meetings are very popular (good for you!), still end the formal meeting on time, but don't shove people out! Continue informally . . .

9) Follow Up
A meeting should never stand on its own! One of our most successful methods of getting people to follow up on meeting Action Items, or to generally stay involved, is to immediatley send out emails relating to the meeting. This may be the meeting minutes, the list of Action Items and their due dates and owners, it may be the invitation for the next meeting. Staying in contact with the attendees will ensure that they wont forget about your meeting as soon as they step out the door!

10) Create your meeting brand!
If your meetings are repeated (or you repeatedly hold meetings) create a brand around your meetings – set an expectation and make it high! This way, people will know what to expect whether its a Sarah Bowlin-run meeting, or if its the Accounting Group weekly meeting, or if Acme Inc. meeting with a customer. They will know what to expect. Some ways to brand your meetings are:
• Name your meetings, so that attendees have something to call it (Hey, are you going to Marketing Sessions this afternoon? Or if your organization’s more loosey goosey: “Chad, you goin’ to Bill’s Brainstormin’ later?).
• Make a logo to go with the name. It could be the company logo along with the name of your meeting. What about a slogan (or an overall objective?)
• Create consistent collateral. The agenda, PowerPoint, and handouts should have the same format each meeting.
• Talk about your meetings outside of your meetings. Send out a reminder email, ask for feedback, etc.
Understanding how to run a good meeting and then actually running one is an often underappreciated skill set. But rest assured, it will be noticed. Make the meetings an extension of your own personal brand and the success of your meetings will positively reflect on to you.

Ok, so use the tips above or not, but remember one thing: what you put into a meeting is what you get out of it. Have the right people, provide the right environment, and include the right tools and your meeting will accomplish what you wanted it to.

Value is the currency of healthy business relationships

Relationships in business, like in our personal lives, requires a little give and take. All parties need to bring something of value to the table, or the relationship is off-balance. "Value" can be measured in a variety of ways; money, companionship, loyalty, trust . . . the list goes on.

One of the most prevalent values in a business relationship is information. Salespeople give information on new products, coworkers share information on company happenings, and colleagues on industry and economic news. How many of your relationships are based on information exchange?

For information to be truly valuable a critical component must be in place: trust. Information is only as good as its source. You trust your vendors to give you reasonable rates and to be true to their word. You trust sales people to give you accurate information on new products. You trust the news from your coworker about your boss being fired is accurate.

In a salesperson's relationships with his clients this perception of a necessary value is magnified. Two things must be present in the salesperson: (1) They must be seen as a good source of information and (2) They must be trusted. With those two values in place, the relationship will provide value back them (hopefully in the context of sustainable sales, new leads, or even as a confidant). Of course, its not as black and white as this. Gestures, also provide value. Unless, of course, they are empty gestures. "Clues" as to how people are feeling (such as sending thank you cards, asking and genuinely caring about their families, etc.) are important in creating a lasting bond. And these little things are not so little. They're what creates trust. These bridges take a long time to build, but in the end are far more rewarding than one-time transactional sales, or a stale, one sided relationship.

Whenever I meet someone new, I like to provide value immediately. Feedback is an excellent mechanism, when used correctly. A story (whether to provide entertainment, or a moral) is always a good way to add value to a conversation. In emails, which have become so prevalent, I like to add a bit more to my "thank yous" and "it was a pleasure speaking to you" (which are becoming, in my humble opinion, empty gestures). I attach a YouTube clip that I think the recipient might be interested in or learn something from, or an industry article. As a salesperson, it is part of my value proposition to know things in my area of expertise and pass them along. Passing on unrelated but valuable information through my colleagues and clients adds value to our relationship overall. I ask good questions when colleagues are telling stories. Questions unlock new avenues of thinking, and can awaken the genious in each and every one of us! When possible (And when not obnoxious!) I share information on my own life; articles published, photos from a recent trip, eh, blog postings. . . .

And, over time this builds trust. Trust that I know what I'm talking about and that I care about our relationship. And that is the basis for a valuable relationship.