How to Integrate Your Theme into Your Meeting or Other Activity:
First, Determine Your Meeting's Objective and Agenda.
By Jerry Busche

It's important to hold regular meetings whether you're in sales, customer service, production, or whatever. Also, special conferences, conventions, annual meetings, contests and other competitions can be essential for your business or organization.

Meetings serve several purposes. Some are:

• Awareness. They can encourage heightened awareness in an atmosphere of togetherness and comradeship which makes for better teamwork. Face-to-face communication with a healthy give-and-take is, in so many ways, superior to letters, memos and email.

• Excitement. They can help to generate excitement; raise your staff's expectations of themselves; and build enthusiasm for challenges, opportunities and rewards.

• Information. They provide an opportunity to impart new information and/or training. And to get your people up-to-speed quicker on goals and objectives so everyone's in the same boat, rowing in the same direction.

• Training. Use your meetings to share info on what's working and what's not, get trained, do role-playing, and sharpen skills and methods.

• Eliminate Misunderstandings. They can clear the air to eliminate staff misunderstandings early-on. They can get people back on track and on the same page.

• Feedback. They provide a way to access feedback from your people that you wouldn't otherwise get.

• Reward and Recognition. Use meetings to recognize individual and team effort and accomplishment. And to reward accordingly. Recognition in front of one's peers is a powerful, continuing motivator.

• Inspiration. This is a “rah, rah” meeting to add new zest and enthusiasm

• Introductions. Use meetings to introduce a new product or relaunch an old one, or unveil new goals or procedures.

• Problem-Solving. A meeting is a fantastic way to focus positively on identifying problems and challenges, and then brainstorming their solution.

• Brainstorming or Greenlighting. Use meetings to get all your creative juices flowing and generate as many ideas, answers and solutions as possible before narrowing your list down to the best prospects.

Meeting Preparation and Planning

First, determine your specific objective(s):

• Determine and narrowly define what your meeting's objectives are so you can clearly communicate them.

• First, ask yourself, “Is this meeting necessary?” and, if so, “What do we really want to achieve through this meeting? What are the outcomes we want? What do we want our people to come away thinking and feeling about these objectives?”

• Be specific about your objectives, in order to narrow your focus and have a better
  chance of hitting the selected target. For instance:

  • Increase sales by %.

  • Handle 20 more calls per week.

  • Upsell more.

  • Launch a new product.

  • Get more people performing at a higher level.

  • Get 500 new referrals in January.

  • Increase enthusiasm

  • Lower your selling or operational expenses by __%.

  • Unveil a new campaign or contest.

  • Implement a new procedure or practice.

  • Follow up on complaints

  • Build teamwork.

  • Recognize effort and/or achievement for individuals and teams.

Prepare Your Meeting Agenda:

• Focus on the primary reason for your meeting, and then prepare your agenda toward achieving that specific objective.

• Compile a list of people who will be attending the meeting, and try to anticipate what their expectations, positions and responses to this objective might be.

• Decide on the appropriate topic(s) and how much time to allot to each

• Decide who should speak or present

• Select the visual aids which will help: i.e., PowerPoint presentations, flipchart, etc.

• Decide on the points to emphasize.

• Give your attendees a copy of the agenda beforehand, if appropriate.

Finally, plan out your strong summary and closing.