On a slightly more specific note – also be wary of using satnav settings or postcode/zip code details supplied by the venue. This because sometimes those details are part of a generic address for a location and may not be best for identifying nearest actual access. For example a large venue, say a major exhibition hall, might have a  single…[Read more]

physical notes was a proven system for centuries so why not?

I agree that venue can be one of the highest potential challenges and let us not forget that one of those ‘venues’ can be video meetings.

Yes, much empathy to this type of ethos. Having worked in Central Government I can say it is almost de rigueur to expect this and bud it in almost as a set contingency in any timeline for decisions.

Perhaps find an ally or two to support and strengthen your request; especially one(s) whose opinions they respect.

So a cascade to a local laptop and even onwards to physical notebooks and boards.

I’ll jump in on this

First: If you think the meeting truly needs the attendance of the senior person, ask Why? Find out the benefit for THEM  to attend and pitch it to them face to face in 10 seconds.

Secondly, dont frame it in terms of your own wants, frame it in terms of theirs. You could also just ask for a steer – you wondered whether this…[Read more]

Interesting to have an approach that seems to be an exercise in collaborative writing as a team. I am curious how Amazon avoid getting into “Revision Hell”. I saw this happen when editing a Divisional newsletter in a large Corporate. Each layer of organisation would countermand the changes from the level underneath them!

The key rule seems to be “expect the unexpected”.

I was once doing logistics for a mindfullness seminar, held at a fairly large hotel in Bristol, England. As you can imagine, it needed a lot of peace and quiet, which it got…until half-way through, when we found that there was a long standing 1940s English singalong in the bar that was directly…[Read more]

For me, this can come under what type of impression do you want to make with your attendees?

A lack of clarity about a simple aspect of a transaction like this may contribute to a bad first impression – and that could have very severe impacts for the individuals setting up the meeting, not to mention possible adverse business effects.

Unfortunately a most common cause of folk acquiescing to invites even where they feel their contribution my be nugatory is rank being pulled. If a senior figure invites you there may be a reluctance to refuse. If we are cynical there is also the opposite where folk attend many meetings to appear to be busy and part of influential groups simply to…[Read more]

In past lives have needed to appoint  staff co-ordinators to maintain a central diary on a single laptop for meeting appointments (usually  by department with departmental coordinators cooperating between themselves for inter departmental diary alignments) with  mails/texts out to individuals who are expected to maintain their personal ap…[Read more]

I was wondering if anyone has encountered the situation where the organisation’s diary system was down for an extended period of time – and what happened?

hi keymaster

issue if differing sw is best resolved by ensuring links sent include a version that allows joining via browser even if you don’t have the sw installed – most meeting packages allow this although joining via just a browser link can sometimes  be slower and have features limited compared to joining through the same sw.

re the…[Read more]

Hi Ron!

These are great – thank you.

Couple of questions for you –

First – do you have any specifics about how to invite people who you think it is very important that they attend but may be extremely busy (perhaps a person further up the organisation) and have a default of NO! to meeting requests?

Secondly – could you give an example of what…[Read more]

Hi Ron!

Thank you for these.

I think there is a key point about joining instructions – it is not enough to go to the venue website and take what they say for granted about it being at the right level of detail – for example I have seen venue websites have maps of parking which just showed WHERE to park, but omitted that there were VERY FEW…[Read more]

Hi Ron!

Thanks for the above.

My experience with physical venues is that the 80/20 rule seems to apply. 20% of venues will give you 80% of your problems. I have seen venues that one might expect gold-standard service turn out to have next to no parking; have zero skills in helping set-up audio-visual equipment in terms of having the cables…[Read more]

Hi Ron!

Thanks for starting this off.

I was wondering if you had encountered situations in organisations where there is a culture of inviting just about everyone who might even be peripherally effected by the meeting to be there “just in case”. I have been in many meetings like this and wondering if there are any interventions to gently change…[Read more]