Selling Yourself in Meetings 165
As a leader, you have additional responsibilities.
A meeting can’t just happen by itself simply because a group
of people has assembled at your invitation or command.
You have to plan everything from “good morning,” down to
“this meeting is adjourned.”
You have to make sure the technical details work.
You have to have and stick to an agenda.
To put it into English, you have to know what you want to get
done and then do it.
You have to start on time and keep the meeting moving so
that you can end it on schedule.
You’ve got to know the ideas you want to communicate and
the best way to deliver them.
In addition to all that, a number of other factors, and how well
you’ve thought them through, will determine the success or fail-
ure of the meeting.
The site
Comfort and convenience should determine your choice of
site. And remember: As soon as you move out of your office, your
boardroom, or another facility in your headquarters, you’re on
foreign soil. That’s true even if you’re in a hotel where you’ve had
lots of previous meetings, a friend’s office where you’ve been doz-
ens of times, or a local school auditorium or classroom where
you’ve held meetings before. Something about the off-premises
site or the personnel working there is different.
Leave nothing to chance
You need to plan for the inevitable surprises. If you need a
lectern, a microphone, a flip chart, a projector, anything, make
sure it’s there, it works, and that you and your technician have
rehearsed with it. That may seem so basic that it hardly deserves
mention, but we’ve all been to meetings where “no problem” be-
came famous last words.
When I conduct one of my training sessions, I’m in the room
where my program is scheduled, with my video operator, at least
an hour before starting time.