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]

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]

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]

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.

Courtesy has two components – our own state, and the impact that that state has on anther. In terms of our own state – we need to model behaviours such as listening, summarising accurately, and being…[Read more]

By far the best approach is to have minutes produced in real-time and agreed and then issued BEFORE the meeting ends.

This creates a great deal of positive momentum and the experience for the participants that the meeting has already accomplished something.

With appropriate tech set-up beforehand, this is…[Read more]

Between two get-togethers (represented by the supports of a suspension bridge), there is a ‘flock’ of actions that need to be shepherded to completion on the other side of the bridge.

The most important part of the meeting is what occurs between the two…[Read more]

It takes three minutes or less.

Plus

List what was positive and worked about the meeting

Minus

List what didn’t work about the meeting

Interesting

What were unexpected issues, ideas that came out of the…[Read more]

If the meeting was virtual, then a quick catch-up on Zoom (or similar) will be the best approach because it will be the most personalised.

If it was face-to-face, then a brief…[Read more]

There may be need for dietary provisions if providing meal or snacks e.g. kosher, halal, vegan etc.

There may be certain etiquettes to how to introduce people shaking of hands (or not) or how we exchange business cards or how we use titles of people…e.g. American,…[Read more]

If you are attending any meeting find out well beforehand the dress code for that meeting. Is it forma or casual? Does formal inclde a tie or juts open neck etc..?:

Organisationally there may be a code or ethos e.g. if you enter the Google building with a tie or even a jacket  you may…[Read more]

A light hearted amusing observation or a friendly slightly cheeky retort to a colleague may be fine to keep a good feel to a meeting and can often be good to loosen…[Read more]