This is a great article:
“Let’s have a meeting.” Never have so few words brought about so much dread for the organizer.
Okay, daily, run-of-the-mill meetings that run five to 10 minutes don’t usually pose a lot of problems, but the lengthier, day-long marathon meetings do. That’s because they tend to require the planner to pull together a variety of details from having the right equipment on-hand to coordinating snacks and meals.
You can hire a meeting planner who will do all of this for you — and sometimes that is a good idea, especially if your meeting is large and requires finding an off-site venue. , But with a little advance planning-particularly if the meeting is on-site-anyone can pull off a meeting with few, if any, glitches.
Consider the setting. Choose a conference room that is light and airy without too many distractions. Make sure it can accommodate all the guests. There’s nothing worse than having to squeeze too many people into a room, which can make the meeting feel claustrophobic, or having too big a room with a lot of empty chairs, which can send the message that the meeting wasn’t important enough for everyone to attend.
You will want a conference table that allows plenty of room to spread out papers. Chairs should be comfortable to sit in for an extended period of time, but not so comfortable that attendees are included to nod off after lunch.
Invest in a sturdy easel that will not wobble if someone with a heavy hand writes on it or easily tips over if bumped.
Keep a fresh pad of oversized easel paper on-hand for writing notes or brainstorming ideas.
If only a few notes are needed, consider a white, dry erase board. They come in handy and can be erased completely when the meeting is over.
Double-check that you have a fresh supply of markers and dry erase markers.
If you are showing a slide presentation or PowerPoint from a laptop, dim the lights, but don’t have them so low that people can’t take notes or become drowsy. Draw the blinds on the window and dim lights near the screen, while keeping other lights on.
A laser pointer will help the speaker make his point accurately without standing in front of the screen.
If there is a PowerPoint presentation, spend some time refining the graphics before the meeting to make it interesting. The content of a presentation might be solid, but it will appear boring if the graphics are dull. At the same time, if there is too much animation, a good presentation might appear disjointed and confusing.
Keep high-energy snack foods handy. Peanuts are good. So is granola. Serving too many snacks with a high sugar content can rev up attendees only to have them crash later on.
While you can’t avoid serving coffee at meetings, consider having some bottled water on hand.
Follow these tips and you are likely to put meeting planner
Found at: biggestbook.com
