Photo courtesy of Kevin Lawver on flickr
When attending meetings, one of the most important tips to remember is to always, always be prepared. Like with anything, there are bad meeting experiences and good meeting experiences. To help ensure that your meeting experience is a good one, be proactive! There are definitely some steps that we, as attendees, can take prior to arriving to ensure our meeting experience is a success.
Good meetings leave us feeling fulfilled, invigorated and believing we can tackle and achieve anything. Bad meetings feel like they can and will go on (and on and on), never getting to the purpose or objectives and leaving you questioning why you attended that meeting in the first place.
Planning Tips – It’s All About the Meeting
Meetings happen for various reasons and truly are a significant part of most people’s jobs and ultimately careers. Whether meeting to share information, update personnel, bring together like minded individuals, stay on top of industry trends, educational purposes or simply for decision making reasons, preparation is the name of the game when looking for success.
Planning Tips – Making Meeting Experiences Better!
When we say be prepared, we’re not talking about bringing a coffee, water or snack. Here are some “do” planning tips to get you in “fighting” shape for your meeting.
By laying the foundation and arriving at a meeting fully prepared, you will already be one step ahead of that dreaded bad meeting scenario. And by sharing your thoughts and info prior to the meeting with co-workers and team members not only will you be ready, others be on side as well.
Don’t forget, you are included in the meeting for a reason, so no wallflower actions for you. Be prepared to speak up and provide your opinion whenever necessary.
Be focused! As we all know, it’s extremely easy for a meeting to stray from the path while at the same time unconsciously pushing an individual to also lose focus and footing. Whenever possible, if you notice a meeting losing footing then speak up, change the momentum and assist in getting the meeting back on track.
Saturday Night Live never misses the chance to point the finger at the funny. So if you are ready for some laughs, have a look at the importance of being prepared when attending meetings.
The take away here is when attending meetings, just like with any other work situation, be prepared. By being prepared you can anticipate and expect the best possible meeting outcome.
Related articles
Conference Planning Resources – Etiquette 101
About Randy Markus
Follow Us!