Chapter 2. Organizing Your Message

Good meetings don't just happen. More preparation goes into “seamless” meetings than you can imagine. This chapter will guide you in spending energy on the right activities. A singular key to effective meetings is preparing an agenda and circulating it in advance—three days before your meeting if possible. When participants have advance agendas, you can expect them to show up on time, bring material rele vant to the meeting, and be prepared to do what you've set up as the purpose of your meeting. An hour of preparation on your part can save several hours of actual meeting time, so get set for the pure gratitude of participants when you execute a productive meeting. There's nothing sweeter than to have several people approach you afterward to say, “That was a really good meeting!”