Meeting Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

Bosses Need Gift Of Better Meeting Leadership

Studies show millions of meetings are held each day in the United States and that thousands of dollars are spent per meeting hour where the meetings include multiple executives as attendees. Are all these meetings a business investment or a waste of time? Sadly many of those same studies indicate the managers attending the meetings felt up to half their time investment was wasted. If meetings are important enough to hold, then why don’t the bosses of the organization insist they be better lead?

Can the gift of better meetings be this year’s ultimate management prize? If meeting leaders can learn to accomplish more in the same amount of time or less, then the answer is most definitively yes. If the answer is yes, then how can this gift of better meetings come about?

There are lots of good training courses and books on meeting management. When looking for a good meeting leadership course, besides using the words “meeting management”, search for courses that include some form of lead or facilitate in the course title. Sometimes meeting management course titles seem to be disguised as something else or the meeting training is a component in a larger package offered as a longer workshop. The benefit of taking a course is concentrated effort on learning the tools and techniques along with networking and ideas from other course participants who have the same business world experiences. The main disadvantage is time away from the job to attend the course, which is why many do not take advantage of this formal training option.

Reading and following a book on meeting management is a viable alternative to formal training, if the meeting leader commits to following the guidelines and the book includes examples or usable forms. One option with examples and forms is the new book “R.A!R.A! A Meeting Wizard’s Approach” (ISBN 1-4196-5367-9). This book and others on meeting management may be bought through Amazon or ordered from bookstores. The primary advantage of informal learning from a book is that it is portable and may be read on or off work hours using small segments of scattered time rather than consecutive hours. Books often include the same benefit of tips, tools, and techniques but in a different format than found in a formal course. The disadvantage could be the lack of networking and discussion with other course participants who are learning the meeting leadership material at the same time. However, this disadvantage may be overcome by forming a book study group at the jobsite or having a regular meeting team explore the book’s materials and learn better meeting management together.

Going back to the meeting studies, they also show that the number of meetings is increasing and their duration is too. To save dollars, time, and management worry – offer bosses the gift of better meetings as a direction towards higher profits and increased productivity. Better meetings lead to more productive employees, less time and dollar cost wasted, and less cost means higher profit margins. Make meetings a business investment instead of a waste of time by reading a book or attending a course so more people become better meeting leaders. Give and share the gift of better meetings this year.

Six Tips for Prepping a Great Virtual Meeting

Great virtual meetings do not just happen. They require planning and preparation just to be good. Web meetings, teleconferences, and, video conferences can be complete failures and a waste of valuable time and resources without proper prep. To prevent this, as a virtual meeting planner, consider the six items for prepping your meeting and attendees suggested below.

1. Determine technology to use. Use only what is needed for an effective meeting. There are lots of options offered by various meeting tools, but using too many can cause confusion, create problems, and make the meeting run long. If using chat, instant message, tweet, or text features, it is a good idea to arrange for someone to monitor that information stream so the facilitator can concentrate on the meeting process. Be sure to allow spaces in the agenda to respond to questions and comments from those using the communication features. If webcams are being used for the meeting, then a few additional things need to be considered:

Main room should be properly lit so speakers are not in shadows or appear washed out.
Those speaking should know to look at the camera when talking as if they are conversing with a person. Check microphones or headsets to be sure everyone can be heard.
Everyone should check their appearance and clothing before going on air. For example white, red, and stripes are not usually good on camera.
Use slides to emphasize presentation points that have little text in large fonts or images such as pictures and charts. Avoid lots of numbers or verbose text.

2. Schedule meeting times that are convenient to most attendees. If attendees are scattered across time zones, consider making ongoing team meetings at different times so everyone gets a chance to meet during their standard business hours. It is better to schedule less than two hours for virtual meetings and plan to hold more meetings than try to squeeze too much into a day as people get distracted after a short while. One hour meetings are even better!

3. Invite only the people who need to participate in the meeting. Having too many people involved can cause things to go off-track. When sending the invite, include the purpose of the meeting so people can opt-out if they do not believe their participation is required. If a document needs to be reviewed or downloaded before the meeting time, include that as a link in the invite or as an attachment. Be sure the invite includes how to get into the meeting and information on installing any necessary software prior to the event start. Also, consider including URL links to any on-line help for the tool being used. This information may prevent last-minute calls from frustrated attendees trying to get into the meeting. If planning to invite people outside the organization, consider security requirements of corporate documents and information before doing so.

4. Create an agenda in advance. Try to limit topics to be discussed to two key items per hour. When making the agenda, use the 3T’s: Time the item will start, Teller is who will be speaking, and Topic is item being presented or discussed. Send the agenda to meeting participants with their meeting reminder at least two days before the meeting. This helps attendees to prepare for presentations and discussions.

5. Plan for note-taking. Either ask someone to record the meeting outcome or select a tool that allows recording within presentation documents. Having someone besides the facilitator record meetings insures they facilitator can concentrate on keeping the agenda moving along and that the minutes get out quickly after the virtual event is over. The alternative of having the facilitator or presenter record comments, changes, and decisions directly into the presentation lets the attendees know they were heard and understood.

6. Send a reminder one to two days before meeting. The reminder email should include the URLs or phone numbers and any login information required to attend the meeting first. Followed by the agenda and a reminder of information of any documentation to be reviewed prior to the meeting. If presentations slides may be accessed prior to the meeting, include how to get those. Suggest that meeting participants log-in 5-10 minutes prior to meeting start so they have time to fix problems that may occur and are ready to participate when the meeting starts.

Using these tips as a virtual meeting organizer should prevent wasted meeting time and frustration caused by not being properly prepared. Consider which of these ideas will move virtual meetings from poor to good, or from simply good to great. Excel in prepping virtual meetings and discover how effective and efficient these types of meetings can really be.

Meeting People From Different Cultural Backgrounds

It is always exciting for me to meet people from different cultural backgrounds. It always thrilled me to learn about the culture of people I met from the different parts of the world. In my stay here in Malaysia, I am very lucky to have stayed in a guest house that caters all migrants from other countries. I was able to meet French, Russians, Dutch, Swedish, Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Malaysians and the like.

It is very important also to learn to speak their language. Even a basic understanding of another language can help build bonds with people who speak another language. Concentrate on learning the languages and learn how to speak proficiently. You’ll be able to have conversations with new friends in a language they feel most comfortable speaking.

When you interact with people of varied cultural backgrounds, it gives you an opportunity to enhance your verbal communication skills. The more comfortable you are in communicating with others, the more doors are open for you in your personal and professional life.

Every time we collaborate ideas with other people, we also learn from them. Sometimes we are too preoccupied with our own world that it’s nice to hear differences in opinion and other perspectives. It’s really amazing to learn something from other people whether it’s intended or unintended, the result is the same. You are able to broaden your horizon and widen your perspectives.

Be open and kind to all the people you meet. Being nice to everybody and willing to learn about new experiences help you make new friends wherever you go. Never judge other people because their experience is different from yours. Try to find something that you can have in common to relate to the person. You can ask them about their lives and you can also share the things that you’re interested in. Never come off as condescending or rude to anybody. Keep yourself open to great possibilities. And it’s always great to make a new friends by being the first to open the conversation.

When you are around with new people, you can come alive with new creative ideas to learn from about your life. Having a strong network of people who are experts in different fields is an awesome experience! Because when you need something, it’s always a good thing to have trusted people to lean on. The person next to you might be the one you need right now or could be in the future.