Ron Eagle wrote a new post 2 months, 1 week ago
The 'Continuity' Meeting Ever been in a meeting where the only outcome was to agree more meetings? This may not have been an accident. In some circumstances, and/or some types […]
Ron Eagle started the topic Most Unusual Meeting in the forum Meeting Humour 6 months ago
Two fellow associate directors were told the need to be ‘extremely creative’ in order to get attention of a very bored and usually sarcastically disinterested set of executive directors they were due to present to in a monthly update session. So…they hired a pantomime horse outfit and planned to enter in that to ‘break the ice’ . Unfortunately,…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Agenda in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 2 weeks ago
I agree – a 30 point agenda is not a recipe for an effective meeting. Meetings tend to fall into 2 broad categories: update advice with consequent negotiations/ actions set or developmental where one or more concepts of situations are posed and creative discussions happen with actions agreed to progress those outcomes. In either case, unless y…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Ice-breaking in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Also, be careful of ‘forced’ ice breaking. For example where the group leader points to someone and makes them stand up and talk about something or themselves etc. This could be embarrassing and unless it is an addiction group ‘sharing session’ may be inappropriate.
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Agenda in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 3 weeks ago
I agree with most of your points except the one about having a new ’round robin’ on the expected outcomes. Outcomes for the session should have nee explicit beforehand and set for a specific purpose. Attendees should be aware of this beforehand too. Asking for ratification at the meeting of its purpose is a recipe for anarchy , time wasting and…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Agenda in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 3 weeks ago
If you are leading a business meeting, you are responsible for managing a large number of people and actions and outputs. An effective meeting agenda will make sure you discuss all the necessary information, keep the meeting on topic and ensure time efficiency. The key essentials to creating then MANAGING a good agenda are:
- Identify the m…
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Privacy & security in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Ensure you have a venue that si exclusively booked out and no interruptions form non attendees will happen.
Ensure you are only using secure networks during the session.
Ask for smartphones to be turned off.
(unless agreed in advance) Leave all papers behind, Meeting facilitator collect them to make sure and take all out of the room when leaving.
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Ice-breaking in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 4 weeks ago
Gauge how much ice needs breaking first before enacting a strategy:
- Very stuffy staid serious ethos and attendees will probably be best thawed by traditional round robin of introductions around the table (not just names and titles…ask each to give a few minutes explaining what they do what their thought contribution is on the project a…
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Ice-breaking in the forum Commencing a meeting 6 months, 4 weeks ago
Try to have something welcoming at arrival: if a morning offer hot drinks and maybe bacon rolls (include vegan too ); if lunch then offer maybe a buffet. This not only attracts attendees but allows some for some pre meeting mingling, ice breaking etc. Regardless have at least one person responsible for welcoming the people arriving
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Setting expectations in the forum Commencing a meeting 7 months ago
Make it clear and concise at the commencement of the session what you want the outcome to be and say that this will be reviewed and tested at the end. For example…don’t say ‘this meeting is to discuss the situation with delays in the finance project’ or you will get hours of just that: discussion and be no further forward. In stead say, ‘the…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Most Unusual Meeting in the forum Meeting Humour 8 months ago
Once was in an arranged training session for senior UK Government Department managers: a very conservative group of individuals (I was attending as an interim director) where the HR department had arranged a session with a very wacky creative style set of management development consultants (no names to protect the ‘innocent’ …and us!! ha ha).…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Purpose and need in the forum Meeting planning and preparation 8 months, 1 week ago
Criteria:
did you call it but wont be attending i.e. you’ve asked others to hold it? – why are you not attending? is is a low importance session you can delegate with confidence and whose impact will be small even if it goes wrong? If you cant answer yes then you should attend.
did you call it and you will be attending? – as above
did s…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Meeting in a public space in the forum Commencing a meeting 8 months, 3 weeks ago
The context of the meeting and make up of the attendees will mak all the difference. An open invitation gathering of people with divergent motivations will be far more challenging to facilitate cogent interactive discussions in a large open space than in a meeting with largely homologous minded attendees. In greatest contrast, imagine the…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Meeting in a public space in the forum Commencing a meeting 9 months ago
Public spaces are not usually ideal for professional meetings as there are issues of logistics ( do you have guaranteed space, seating, accessibility etc) , interruptions ( if its public you cant control who comes and goes around/into your meeting space) and of course security ( eavesdropping, public Wi-Fi networks etc.)
Unless its a social…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Courtesy & Respect in the forum Meeting etiquette 1 year, 10 months ago
One subtle point is to be aware of is that YOUR idea of what constitutes obvious courtesy and respect may NOT be as clear and obvious to your attendee(s). These values are as fluid and contextual and culturally flexible as any other value. So do more research from the other person(s) viewpoint in advance so that ‘obvious’ is not taken as a given.
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Taking notes in the forum Participating in a meeting 1 year, 10 months ago
One common theme to almost all meetings is the necessity to take some form of recording of the session and of any outcomes.
In some cases this may need to be a laborious and extremely accurate and comprehensive style of recording of every utterance and action during the meeting. This is most common in highly political discussions or those in the…[Read more]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Reaching agreement & dealing with disagreement in the forum Running a meeting 1 year, 10 months ago
Need to distinguish between constructive disagreements that can eventually foster innovative solutions if managed creatively and destructive disagreements where no eventual convergence seems likely. The former may sometimes be encouraged in brainstorming but the latter should be assertively halted as early as possible.
Ron Eagle wrote a new post 1 year, 10 months ago
To Record or Not to Record? One common theme to almost all meetings is the necessity to take some form of recording of the session and of any outcomes. In some cases this may need […]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Joining Instructions in the forum Meeting planning and preparation 1 year, 10 months ago
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]
Ron Eagle replied to the topic Coordinating diaries in the forum Meeting planning and preparation 1 year, 10 months ago
physical notes was a proven system for centuries so why not?
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