TimeBridge

You Can’t Keep a Bad Meeting Private Anymore

While not every sector or certainly every business is yet experiencing an upswing, it is clear that everyone is redoubling their efforts from 2009 and looking toward increased productivity in 2010. As the engines of business rev, so are our calendars filling with new daily, weekly and one-off meetings. While we are big proponents of productive meetings, we also caution meeting leaders to be judicious and think ahead about their meetings, their goals, and how a meeting will lead to an improved outlook for all in attendance.

This week TechCrunch ran a story about an online offering that lambastes companies and meeting organizers who waste attendees’ precious time. Things have changed and sales leads, business partners and yes, even employees, now regularly feel emboldened to share their impressions on…just about everything…publicly! Whether its a blog post, a tweet, or a scathing online review companies can no longer afford to assume polite discretion.

In the arena of scheduling and running great meetings, which we know a lot about, there are three top-line things every meeting leader must know to address this critical shift and keep driving productivity and results:

• Know why you’re having a meeting–  Make sure you make it clear to your attendees; set an agenda and allow attendees to add their two cents (through TimeBridge)
• Know why everyone needs to be there–  If an invitee isn’t impacted by the meeting then they probably don’t need to be there– they can read your meeting notes (from TimeBridge)
• Know what the desired result is–  Summarize the action items at the end of the meeting and email them (through TimeBridge too, of course)

It’s that simple. Our entire purpose at TimeBridge is to help make meetings meaningful and easy-to-schedule forums that inform attendees and drive people toward goals. If you don’t approach meetings with the right personal and technological tools get ready because your next review may be a public one.