Appendix D

Do's and Don'ts for Conducting Meetings

 

The joys and sorrows, successes and failures of meetings past are reflected in these do's and don'ts of planning and conducting such meetings. Born of experience, the do's and don'ts below are those of 50 or more sales promotion managers, marketing executives, and others expert in their companies' meetings, who listed their suggestions at the request of Advertising Age. They apply especially to large sales conferences.

Do's

Preparing the Meeting, Do…

1. Choose a theme, and plan around it.

2. Have a motivation theme tied to objectives, mentality, and accomplishments.

3. Plan and schedule events; hold to the schedule.

4. Have detailed plans for every hour of the meeting.

5. Prepare a checklist of every detail for every day.

6. Plan enough in advance to have materials on hand.

7. Develop a master checklist.

8. Program carefully. On three- or four-day meetings, give a half-day off to enjoy the local scene.

9. Have a dry run of the meeting before the scheduled time.

10. Screen individual presentations carefully; edit for maximum effect.

11. Insist on use of visuals by everyone. Any speaker who will not take time to prepare applicable visuals doesn't deserve the privilege of appearing on your program.

12. Make sure each presenter has the appropriate attitude.

13. Make every presentation to the point; don't ramble.

14. Be well prepared. A good speaker should be able to cover every possible important point in one hour.

15. Force an outline form and, if possible, a rehearsal by each presenter.

Preparing for the Meeting, Do…

1. Permit ample time for individual, regional, or district meetings so that territorial problems do not have to be discussed or take up the time of the meeting itself.

2. Have district managers meet prior to the regular meeting so that you know you are working on the correct problems.

3. Visit the site for an on-the-spot inspection prior to the meeting.

4. Check the facilities for problems, such as lighting and sound capabilities.

5. Make sure preparations are complete and detailed.

6. Triple check air circulation and heating and cooling facilities.

7. Have the meeting room properly set up, not only to show the theme, but also to indicate the meeting is well conceived and not just thrown together at the last moment.

Preparing the Participants for the Meeting, Do…

1. Provide ample notice to participants.

2. Issue in advance a program schedule and topics.

3. Give plenty of advance notice as to the date and place of meeting.

4. Have advance registrations and name badges ready.

5. Try to precondition attendees by use of a good slogan. Then tie in your bulletins, memos, or house publications with this theme or slogan.

6. Make sure everyone has an outline for the meeting before it begins.

7. Get everyone to be a part of the meeting by publishing a questionnaire beforehand, asking for complaints. Go through these and make a decision at the meeting regarding what your company policy is or will be.

Remembering Key Points of the Meeting, Do…

1. Start on time; stay on time; end on time.

2. Use early-bird prizes to get sessions started on time; then police the speakers to stay within time limits.

3. Open with a bang, not a sour note that spells defeat or discouragement.

4. Have the company president address the participants and attend the opening meeting.

5. End the meeting on a high note.

6. Leave the participants with an immediate action program and realistic objectives.

7. Leave time between the end of the meeting and flight departures.

During the Meeting, Do…

1. Take time to listen; encourage discussion.

2. Take a positive stand.

3. Keep the agenda loose enough to allow free time.

4. Promote discussion topics in advance, and allow each person time to give opinions.

5. Keep meetings lively, brief.

6. Use a little showmanship.

7. Keep the meeting moving on a predetermined schedule.

8. Discuss only positive information that is geared to ignite enthusiasm at general meeting sessions.

9. Give it your all; if an event is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

10. Vary for interest.

11. Use gimmicks for laughs to relax listeners.

12. Use visuals—slides, movies, and so forth—and keep them short. Change these daily.

13. Use meeting prizes; they are effective and helpful.

14. Light the meeting room well.

15. Vary the speakers.

16. Make presentations short.

17. Provide time for question-and-answer sessions.

18. Provide adequate entertainment.

19. Carry doubles of all films and slides.

20. Break into shirtsleeve sessions for detailed discussion on the program presented—moderated by the home-office team plus other people thoroughly briefed on the program.

21. Involve participants as much as possible.

22. Involve key agency personnel in the live presentation; it's wonderful exposure for them.

23. Use plenty of room decorations relating to the program.

24. Review corporate progress, particularly in a multidivisional company, and state clearly the divisional objectives.

25. Maintain a fast-moving, variegated program with adequate time for two-way discussion.

26. Recognize good performance.

27. Show how the department fits into the overall plans of the corporation.

28. Keep the department aware of corporate goals.

29. Stress importance of communications.

30. Include people from other departments in the meeting.

31. Provide an interesting, but businesslike, meeting.

32. Call on outside professional assistance for either the entire production or the specific responsibilities of production.

33. Start fast and end fast—with dramatics at both ends.

34. Have an element of surprise.

35. Build the meeting so you can have a series of small climaxes, culminated with the prime climax—banquet and awards.

36. Get problem solving done early in the meeting—via workshops or buzz sessions.

37. Change the pace of the meeting every day; insist on program variety.

38. Allow time for recreation.

39. Keep the meeting purpose and objectives clear in everyone's mind.

40. Insist on elbow room, but avoid the ballroom atmosphere. It should be cozy enough for a friendly feeling, but room enough for comfort.

41. Keep sessions short—30 minutes if you can. If longer, break up into segments.

42. Use as much audiovisual equipment as possible. Check and recheck all equipment after it is set up in the meeting room. Nothing kills a meeting like a public address system or a projector that won't work. Rehearse presentations with the equipment operator when using films or slides.

43. Make awards sessions in the form of dinner meetings with spouses and company personnel in attendance. Recognition should be as public as possible.

44. Enforce the wearing of name tags—by everyone.

45. Use natural enthusiasm, not artificial props.

46. Use goals, but stimulate thought on how goals may be obtained.

47. Carry away the synopsis of the meeting.

48. Lend interest through well-done skits.

49. Use imagination and showmanship to make points.

During Down Time, Do…

1. Bring in outside experts for luncheon or dinner speakers.

2. Assign members of the top management team to certain tables so they can mix with others at meal functions. The formality of a head table is out. This builds for a closer relationship and understanding of management and field personnel.

3. Have off periods where attendees can relax, socialize, and so forth.

4. Keep noon lunches light.

5. Give the participants accessories, like desk organizers, pads, briefcases, and so forth.

Meeting with Fellow Presenters, Do…

1. Hold briefings with work crew daily to outline jobs to be done during the next 24 hours.

2. Make one person responsible for the whole show with others responsible for specific jobs. Let the hotel understand that this person is to be the leader and only that person is to give orders.

After the Meeting, Do…

1. Postmortem a meeting series immediately upon conclusion.

2. Arrange a field follow-up.

3. Serve coffee and refreshments.

Don'ts

Preparing for the Meeting, Don't…

1. Cut costs by eliminating the little things.

2. Try to pack too much into a program. It is better to go to an extra day or to have early evening sessions.

3. Count on the hotel to have the technical help you need—electricians, stagehands, audiovisual-sound systems, and so forth. Contact outside experts.

4. Overdo evening pre-meeting hospitality.

5. Pinch pennies in selecting the site or running the meeting. If it's worth hauling the participants in from all over, it's worth giving them the feeling that the company cares enough to treat them in a first-class manner.

6. Permit pre-meeting cocktail parties that leave the audience beat and with dulled senses.

7. Use a drastic new idea without first checking it out.

8. Hold a meeting at a new place without checking its references, and then checking the actual facilities.

During the Meeting, Don't…

1. Dwell on the dull figures, quotas, and so forth.

2. Review individual account activity in the presence of the entire meeting.

3. Allow gripe sessions to develop.

4. Drag out executive speeches.

5. Just talk about what's wrong.

6. Get monotonous. Have key personnel discuss various facets, programs, or policies.

7. Be too cute. Hold entertainment and humor for off-duty hours.

8. Use all the time for talking at the people.

9. Use too much ham. You are likely to get eggs for results.

10. Use the same format each year. Keep it fresh.

11. Use too many visuals. Alternate it or run it concurrently with live action.

12. Undercut your own people by giving orders to hotel staff in areas in which you have no responsibility.

13. Forget that you are helping to stage the convention.

14. Use photographic slides crowded with copy that can't be read easily and will not be remembered.

15. Present extraneous subjects that stray from the theme of the meeting.

16. Bore the participants.

17. Single anyone out for criticism.

18. Challenge the participants to beat a quota.

19. Keep the participants sitting in one place for too long.

20. Let one person dominate the whole show. Meetings seem to be a great place for self-styled leaders to preach endlessly.

21. Allow dull, monotonous talks that are read meticulously from scripts.

22. Let any speaker keep slides on the screen interminably.

23. Fall into such a standard format that the participants know what is coming.

24. Invite management to speak without suggesting ground rules concerning the subject and amount of time.

25. Schedule one heavy or technical subject after another without interspersing lighter presentations or participating sessions.

26. Allow the character of the recreational program to override the importance of the meeting.

27. Use boring statistics.

28. Get too elementary. Keep it sophisticated.

29. Bore the pros.

30. Discuss, in general sessions, subjects that are of interest to only a portion of the group. Allow time for special interest sessions.

During Down Time, Don't…

1. Overfeed the participants.

2. Put undue stress on the gimmicks, showmanship, and so forth, that might get in the way of the guts of what the participants wish to hear about.

3. Forget to outline the action you expect as a result of the meeting.