Meetings

An Answer To Meetings Running Past Time

Garth Beyer

Meetings rarely end when they’re supposed to. Ever wonder what to do about it?

Why not state the meeting will end 5 minutes earlier than you originally thought. Instead of 5:00 p.m., tell everyone it will end at 4:55 p.m.

1) Cushion is better than being rushed

2) When the organizer also keeps time (perhaps by setting an alarm) wrap up doesn’t go past 5:00 and they don’t feel as rushed to finish.

3) Knowing a meeting won’t last for a full hour, attendees will be encouraged to tighten conversation, ask the important questions, and won’t feel bad for staying an extra two minutes, because no one is going to plan something else at 4:57 p.m.

The bad side to this 5-min grace period: people may still view it as “we’re getting out 5 minutes early” and if they don’t get out at 4:55, they may get frustrated.

Then again, all it really comes down to is awareness. For effective meetings, you don’t need to follow this tip, you merely need to think about meeting effectiveness, talk to others about managing their time better, and put it at the front of your mind when you walk into a meeting.

 

Stay Positive & Aware

The One That Matters

The One That Matters

Garth Beyer

Is that the mindset you have? Are the rest part of your assembly line?

The problem with checklists, the problem with the 20 emails you have to send, the problem with the four meetings you’ve got to attend is that you know you’ve got another one on deck, so let’s just get through this one, cut ourselves some slack, leave out the “thank you” at the end.

When you have the mindset that the last one on your to-do list is the one that matters, you’re dumbing down the work you do, you’re establishing an average that your outlier won’t recover.

The problem for you is there are people out there treating each task as if it were their last, as if the task they are doing is always the one that matters.

We put too much faith on going out with a bang, we support mediocrity and fall to our competitors when we breeze through the assembly line of work and treat only one (typically the last in line) as if it’s the one that matters.

It’s not.

 

Stay Positive & It Might Be Time To Leave The Line

Two Things To Do Before A One-On-One Meeting

Two Things To Do Before A One-On-One Meeting

Garth Beyer

Coffee Shop One-On-One Meetup

Anyone who knows me personally knows I have a habit of scheduling one-on-one meetings quite regularly. I think carefully about who I meet, but sometimes I even ignore my own guidelines.

While I don’t need to argue the reasons to have one-on-one meetings (InkHouse just did it for me), I can offer a couple of tips on what to do to have a successful one-on-one.

1) Read newspaper headlines or short blurbs of front page stories. Whether you bring up a headline topic or the person who you are meeting with does, you can at least say you caught it briefly. (It’s also a great conversation starter and fall-back small talk if there are periods of awkward silence.)

Often times if they mention a topic first and you are able to connect with it (“Yea, I saw that in the NYT this morning.”) then they will go on to talk about it. No deep thought from your end is necessary. You won’t lose clout by stating you didn’t get the full story yet. In fact, they will get pleasure from informing you more about it.

However, you will lose some informed credibility if you don’t know what’s going on in the world, especially when they bring it up as it’s obviously a matter of interest for them and thus, should be for you (at least for the sake of the meeting).

2) Listen to a podcast that is either motivational, entrepreneurial or focused on a shared interest of you and the person you’re meeting with. Many one-on-one meetings end up being an act of back-and-forth storytelling. “I remember when X happened to me.” Or “Have you used MailChimp? Did you know that if you enter ‘boredom’ in their search box, you get to play Asteroids!” (I learned that nugget by listening to Debbie Millman’s podcast with Ben Chestnut and Aarron Walter and used it during a meeting with an aspiring game developer.)

By listening to a few podcasts you will learn something new, think about experiences you’ve had (essentially jostling your memory), and give you something of value to share. They will put you in the mood to meet with someone, to socialize, to generate new ideas together. If those aren’t reasons for your one-on-one meeting, what kind of meetings are you going on?

Best of luck. Let me know how these tips help.

 

Stay Positive & Go Schedule A Couple Of Meetings

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One Hour

One Hour

Garth Beyer

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That’s as long as a meeting needs to take.

Think of yourself as a QB. You have an end goal and you need to get there play-by-play. No point in thinking 10 plays from now because the game will change by then.

Huddle, break, make the play. Repeat.

A 2 hour meeting rarely produces 4 hours of effort. And an all-day meeting? Forget about it.

How boring would football be if they only made 3 plays a game. How boring would your art be if you only shipped something once a year. Let’s not even go into how boring meetings are to begin with…

 

Stay Positive & Let’s Not Be Boring

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Shall We Gamble Our Success On A Meeting

Garth Beyer

Bob Proctor says to consider the agenda of your meeting tomorrow the night before.

Sorry, Bob, I say skip the meeting completely and stay focused on what needs to be done.

Meetings have two arguable goals. The first goal is to put off good work being done. The second is to hold people accountable for doing good work after the meeting. My thought is, wouldn’t you want to hire people who don’t need anyone to hold them accountable, who are self-accountable, self-motivated?

Here’s an interesting thought. Want to know what employees to keep around next quarter? Go a month without having a meeting and see who still gets everything they need done.

The only meeting worth having is the meeting of celebration.

 

Stay Positive & More On Meetings (& More) (& More)

You’re Not That Important, But Everyone Loves You

Garth Beyer

I’ve sifted through dozens and dozens of blogs, attended some productive, some not-so-productive meetings and listened to speakers all week. Here are some tips to spitshine your blog, your productivity and your speaking.

Blogging

  • Never start a blog post with anything that is similar to “it’s been awhile since I’ve written,” “I’ve been sooo busy and haven’t been able to write lately” and “I’m going to try and write more.” Nothing makes me cringe as much as seeing 165,000,000 results show up on Google
  • You won’t find that fine line between personal and professional until you write a lot under each.
  • I met with blogger Danielle Bruflodt who advocates planning out blog posts. I, on the other hand, never do. I argue that not planning forces you to observe more and keep a more open mind throughout each day to find something to write on. Both ways work.
  • What Danielle and I both agreed on: write daily.

Productivity (meetings)

  • Don’t let any meeting go past an hour.
  • Know who the leaders are and those that flat-out standout. Thank them for it.
  • Some meetings don’t need to be ran. Some meetings run themselves. Recognize this. Leading meetings that don’t need to be lead damages productivity and how people will view you as a leader.
  • If you’re not running the meeting, know more about the people who are than anyone else attending. It’s not creepy to know I completed National Novel Writing Month or stayed in Madison for Thanksgiving.

Speaking

  • Much like the que on how you start a blog post, never start speaking by giving an apology, no matter what you’re sorry for.
  • Not everyone loves cherries on their sundae’s, but everyone loves getting gifts when they get information. Give. Give. Give.
  • Handouts are your friends, but not at the start of your presentation. Let everyone know they are getting a handout outlining the presentation. What matters is that they focus on you, not on following an outline and not on taking notes the entire time.
  • No one goes to just listen to a speaker anymore. They go to speak to. Involve your audience, they expect it. There’s a reason it’s called a “speaking engagement.” Engage them in conversation.

 

Stay Positive & Do, Learn, Share

Garth E. Beyer

The Meetings You’re Waiting For

Garth Beyer

They don’t exist.

You take internships, you jump in groups, clubs, associations, you work for organizations or companies in hopes that a meeting is called and you can be the one person to shout something brilliant out.

Everyone loves that person who – out of nowhere – comes up with a phenomenal idea. For the one meeting, you take the stage, you get the spotlight, you get the credit you finally deserve.

And then it dies. Lights off. Curtain closed. Meeting over.

Is it worth it though? To work for the blind until they call a meeting? Only for the possibility of you coming up with a great idea off the cuff and them accepting it? Then waiting for the next meeting?

No one loves a light that flickers.

Or are you: Better off connecting with the few who love your constant stream of ideas. Better off interacting with members outside of the meeting and showing them what you have created. Better off doing your work for the sake of doing your work instead of for the chance to be picked.

Or – my personal favorite – skip the meeting completely to connect with someone who is also not attending the meeting. Hell, they may not even be associated with the meeting group. They may even be someone who impresses you and changes the way you work. Instead of trying to be the remarkable one, you may just meet someone who is.

 

Stay Positive & Frequent Conformity Is Overrated

Garth E. Beyer