Conducting a flawless and impressive meeting, either with your superiors or for your important clients can be a turning point for your career and business. However, a flawless meeting needs plenty of effort put to it, and has some key points that you need to pay attention to. Here are a few of those key points that will make any meeting impressive and flawless.
One of the worse things you can do as a host of an important meeting, is to be less than well prepared for it. From what you’re presenting to the materials and documents used, make sure you have it all perfected before the big day. If you’re going old school, and using a power point presentation to get your points across, make sure that presentation is ready and “polished” and proofread several times before the date as well. This is especially true if you’re hosting the meeting out of the office, where chances for confusion are more.
Location is key to a flawlessly impressive business meeting. Ideally, having it at your own commercial building makes things less complicated. However, if you don’t have the luxury of owning a meeting room, or if it’s not impressive enough to wow your important clients, then hiring a meeting space is the best option for you. Meeting venues in Sri Lanka are not hard to find, as some of the leading hotels around the island (like Citrus Waskaduwa) have very impressive meeting rooms for business purposes. The important thing to remember is that it needs to have plenty of space to write in (most people still prefer old fashioned note taking), has good lighting (so that you’re not straining your eyesight throughout the meeting), has comfortable yet professional furniture and that it at has a strong Wi-Fi connection.
As well as the above mentioned requirements, it’s also vital that the meeting room you choose is technology friendly and has all the required electronics that you require to conduct a successful and impressive meeting. Visiting the place before the date of the meeting is an obvious thing to do. Apart from making sure that the room is spacious and impressive enough, use this prior visit as an opportunity to make sure they have all the electronics and technology that you require; and make arrangements to bring with you what’s missing.
There’s nothing more tedious than having to sit through a meeting that is entirely irrelevant to you; and anyone in the business world can testify this fact. In order to make a meeting impressive, it’s vital that you limit the participants of the meeting to only the relevant people. Remember that being involved in the outer limits of a project does not mean they need to be present at every meeting involving the project. It’s more efficient to have only those who affect the turn of a project at the meeting. It also prevents anyone from feeling bored or left out.
While mobile phones certainly make life in the business world easier by having our emails and notifications just a fingertip tap away, it’s also a known fact that our mobile phones can distract us quite easily. Eliminate the possibilities of them disrupting your meeting by asking all parties involved to leave their mobile phone either outside the meeting room, or if they prefer having it on them, switched off entirely. Along with switching off the mobile phones, make sure there’s no extra time spent between each item in the meeting. This eliminates in office gossiping and related distractions.
Spending long hours bending against a desk can be hard, especially when you’re concentrating hard. But that tiredness is only amplified when you also have to go without food. If you’re hosting the meeting for a few hours, make sure you provide those at the meeting with snacks and coffee to keep them alert. If the meeting will last all day, it may be a good idea to organize your meals with a professional caterer. Catering services know the kind of food that can be served that will make the least amount of mess; even if eaten at the meeting room.
In the world of business, things are always evolving and changing for the better. More often than not, traditional means are being abandoned for modern ways; better productivity, accomplishing more in less time and simplicity being the forefront reason for doing so. One such upcoming “trend” both locally and internationally would be conducting off-site meetings. Here’s why we thinking such meetings benefit you, your team and your company in the long run.
A strong working bond is vital for a team to function effortlessly; this is what produces admirable work results. However, this bond does not form overnight, nor does it form without putting in some effort. One of the best ways to form said bond is to get out of the office regularly as a team; share a meal weekly, or hangout after working hours. An off-site meeting once in a while, along with some fun before or after the meeting, can give you the same results. Remember to do a few team building fun activities while you’re at it!
New ideas are vital for a company or business to be current in the ever evolving business world. A change of scene from the usual four walls of the office can help you and your team members enormously when it comes to thinking innovatively and “out of the box”. Rather that having brainstorming sessions at the office, consider a slight change of scenery; these meetings will benefit a great deal if met outside of office for discussions. Remember that your creativity is affected a great deal by what you see, hear and feel every day; being stuck within a space can only starve your creativity, making you come up and reuse the tried and tested ideas over and over.
Office spaces are not simply a building that houses your company or business; it is a place where your employees have to work, think and create; a place where their productivity matters a great deal. And while most of us try to make these spaces inspiring, not many of us have a large enough budget or building to luxuriously decorate our office spaces; especially in a packed city like Colombo. This affects the productivity of you and your employees; inevitably affecting your company’s growth. Opting to have your meeting in one of the many available meeting venues in Sri Lanka takes care of this issue temporarily. Remember you have the option of selecting venues according to your budget and the occasion; whether you select Citrus (Waskaduwa) or a coffee shop close to your office depends on that.
Being stressed out during important dates of the work year, or the busiest part of the month is natural. It is also part of the human nature to lose focus on work from time to time. However, if you feel that you or your team members are constantly stressed out and out of focus; this can result in a huge problem. Having occasional off-site meetings tends to help here, as being out of the office reduces the work stress for some. It’s also true that it’s easier to lose focus in a familiar surrounding; like your office cubical. While you’re at it, don’t forget to grab some much needed coffee to get your brain online once more!
Like we mentioned above, not all office spaces are designed luxuriously. This is especially true if you’re an entrepreneur operating your business or company in a very limited budget. This can limit your use of current and trending tools and technology, as you aren’t given the chance to use such tools and tech during your regular meetings at work. Having an off-site meeting that enables you to use such tools and tech will help you and your team members not only learn and become familiar with them but, also make it easier on the occasion that you actually have to use them in the future.
So have we sold you on the idea of having off-sire meetings? If so, we’re pretty sure you have one question that needs clarification:
“Does this mean you need to conduct all your meetings out of the office; since it has so many benefits?”
The answer is, Of course not. That only adds to the cost and reduces the results you’re seeking. But an occasional meeting will certainly benefit you, your team and your company/business.