Category / Free
5 Reasons In-Person Meetings Still Matter
Here are five reasons:
1.Reduced distractions
How many times have you attended a virtual meeting only to be sidetracked by incoming emails from your colleagues or boss? I am guilty; we all are. It is simply unavoidable.
A recent InterCall survey found that of the 340 marketers surveyed, only 62 percent said they would log on from their office. Yet, more than a quarter of respondents were attending from bed (14 percent), their car (9 percent) or from the beach or swimming pool (5 percent)!
When attending an in-person event those innate virtual distractions are removed for participants. Also, it may sound odd, but the peer pressure of the other attendees in the room helps to keep attention on speakers.
2.Beyond the content
When event-goers pony up cash, invest time and take a flight to attend; they’re committed. And these attendees are more likely to take part in breakout sessions, post-event dinners and other networking events, leading to a more involved and complete experience.
Related: These 5 Mistakes Make Meetings a Huge Time Waste
When meetings are held in-person, there is a unique opportunity to get creative and leave a lasting impression about your brand and company culture. A live experience means that attendees can engage multiple senses that just cannot be duplicated with a computer.
3.Comfort zone eliminated
There is something invigorating about being in a room full of people who are as excited to talk about the same topic as you are. It can renew attendees’ excitement and focus about the topic of discussion.
Attendees are physically in a room with others that have the same learning goal but different backgrounds. This allows for meaningful relationships to grow beyond their industries.
4. Networking hurdles removed
Behind the screen is a not an effective place to meet people. The hurried nature of online events may help attendees “meet” a larger number of people, but the virtual world allows for less quality time to interact with others.
An article, which recently appeared in Psychology Today, suggests that too much time behind a screen could hinder people’s ability to recognize emotions — a vital tool for building successful social relationships.
5. Let’s keep this ‘off the record’
When attending an in-person event, there is an opportunity to speak more freely in one-on-one situations. There is also a heightened sense of trust when meeting with someone in person vs. just speaking online — and less of a chance something will be taken out of context.
The next time you consider whether there is enough room on the budget to meet in person, consider these points. While the time and cost is a greater investment, it is worth exploring to reach the goals your organization is looking to achieve.
These 5 Mistakes Make Meetings a Huge Time Waste
Image credit: Kevin Dooley | Flickr
Meetings can be some of the most rewarding, collaborative parts of your workday. They can also be some of the biggest wastes of time. As an entrepreneur, you’ll be deciding when to have meetings (and you’ll be directing them), so it’s on you to make sure each meeting is as smooth and productive as possible. Considering that one bad meeting could waste dozens of hours in cumulative time, you might be tempted to throw meetings out altogether, but don’t forget that meetings can be valuable opportunities to learn, brainstorm, solve problems, and reconnect as a group.
The key is to avoid these five major meeting mistakes, which prevent a meeting from achieving its potential as a collaborative unifier:
1. Neglecting the agenda.
The agenda is the most important part of the meeting, as it states the purpose of the meeting and dictates a general direction for its course. The meeting may head in some new directions based on the contributions of its participants, but the agenda provides an underlined goal for the entire event.
For example, if your meeting is to decide on a new logo for your brand, the agenda would exist to make sure the meeting stays more or less on topic and fixed on completing that goal. It also helps other members of the group arrive prepared and ready to participate. Going into a mystery meeting means fewer people will arrive with meaningful insights or contributions.
2. Inviting the wrong people.
Some bosses have a habit of inviting everyone they can think of to a meeting. This is enabled by technology; on most email clients, you can easily scroll down your list of contacts and invite new contacts with just a click. Before you know it, you have 15 people attending a meeting that could have done fine with just eight. It may not seem like a big deal to you, since it doesn’t take much time, but each person you add multiplies the total amount of time your meeting occupies. If you invite someone who doesn’t need to be present, you’ll add zero value to the meeting but increase its cost to the company. Instead, only invite parties who can positively add to the conversation.
3. Tolerating tangents.
As I mentioned before, it’s okay to veer slightly off course if it’s in the interest of achieving your meeting goal, but going on tangents is a bad idea. For example, when discussing the new company logo, one participant might mention a possible new marketing strategy, which can launch into a separate conversation that only a fraction of the attendees can participate in. This wastes time for the other participants, delays the achievement of the original meeting goal, and derails the original conversation. Whenever this happens, acknowledge it, earmark the topic as one that requires future exploration, and return to the agenda at hand. It’s your job as the meeting organizer to keep things on track.
4. Allowing lopsided participation.
Participation in meetings, assuming every participant is meant to be there, should be relatively equal. If a participant doesn’t bring anything to the meeting, his/her participation is a waste. Anything he/she learned from the experience could have been sent in a more digestible form. If a participant takes over the meeting by talking constantly, similarly his/her contributions could have been reduced to a more digestible form.
Conversation and balanced exchanges are at the heart of a productive meeting. To maintain this balance, serve as a moderator; choose the right people to include from the get-go, then make adjustments during the meeting to ensure everyone participates equally, such as calling people out when they contribute too much or not enough.
5. Failing to summarize action items post-meeting.
A successful meeting concludes with some meaningful new discovery, new action items or a final decision made. These findings should be effectively and concisely summarized at the end of the meeting, and sent to everyone who didn’t participate but is affected by the decision.
Summarizing action items is important. If you can, create a detailed, name-based list that recaps exactly who is responsible for what as a result of the meeting. This keeps everyone on track and prevents any miscommunication that could have occurred.
Avoid these five big mistakes and your meeting will be in good shape. As you have more meetings, pay careful attention to who participates, what conditions lead to more participation, and generally how much value you get out of each meeting compared to the cumulative time you’ve invested in them. Stay as concise and limited as possible, improve your selection and organization process with each iteration, and before long, you’ll have a perfect meeting rhythm to use in your business moving forward
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Franchising Exhibition Croatia 2016
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