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Tag: Business Meetings

  • I Once Landed for a Business Meeting Already Exhausted and Knew I’d Made a Mistake

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    The flight was good—on time and uneventful. I landed stiff, dehydrated, mentally fried, and annoyed at myself for packing last minute in too much of a hurry, eating airport food, and waiting in a security line that crawled at the pace of a snail. 

    The meeting itself was fine—not great—and that was the problem. Because when you travel for work, the trip isn’t the job. How you show up after it is. Seasoned business travelers figure this out eventually: travel is a cost not only of time but of mental clarity, patience, and the ability to make good decisions. Let it, and you’re going to pay. 

    The good news is that most travel stress is optional. 

    Once you streamline the process, travel isn’t so bad. Sometimes, it’s smooth. Here are seven travel habits smart business travelers use to arrive energized (and not wiped out). 

    1. When possible, fly the same airline every time. 
      Loyalty isn’t about loving a brand. It’s about upgrades, priority boarding, and less hassle in the long run. 
    2. Stop price-checking flights the wrong way.
      If you’re toggling back and forth while checking prices for flights, use an incognito window or clear your cookies. Dynamic pricing is real and not your friend. 
    3. Keep a toiletries kit always ready to go.
      Decision fatigue starts at home. One less thing to think about is much more valuable than it seems. 
    4. Pick a carry-on that can bend the rules—literally. 
      Soft, malleable bags fit into full overhead bins much better than hardshell rollers. 
    5. Pair travel with the right credit card.
      Lounge access, upgrades, and travel insurance add up quickly when you actually use them.  
    6. Eat like you have a job to do.
      Heavy meals and airport junk food seem convenient. They cost you hours later. 
    7. Buy your way out of security lines. 
      TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry isn’t a luxury. It’s time, energy, and sanity. I personally depend on it, especially going through Customs! 

    The best travel hack isn’t a hack at all—it’s understanding your own limits. 

    Business travel will never be stress-free. It’s not supposed to be. The goal is to arrive clearheaded enough to think, listen, and make good decisions. That starts long before you sit down in the meeting room.  

    Seasoned travelers don’t just pack better. They preserve their energy, reduce friction, and stop mistaking stress for just “part of the job.” You don’t have to reinvent your process. You just need to stop making travel harder than it needs to be. 

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    Peter Economy

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  • My Strategy for Helping Leaders Reclaim 10+ Hours a Week | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Most leaders know the frustration of wasted meetings. Long agendas, too many attendees and little to show for hours lost. For one group of senior leaders I worked with, this wasn’t just an annoyance. It was cutting into strategy time, slowing down decisions and draining energy across the business.

    In less than a year, we cut their meeting time in half. Each leader won back more than 10 hours every week, and the organization became faster, clearer and more accountable.

    Here’s how it happened, and how you can do the same.

    Related: Stop the Meeting Madness: 19 Ways to Make Your Meetings Matter

    The problem: Meetings controlled the leaders instead of the leaders being in charge

    This team was leading a complex global transformation across three regions. Their calendars were wall-to-wall with standing meetings, catch-ups and recurring calls. People often left with unclear decisions, leading to more follow-up meetings just to fix what hadn’t been resolved the first time.

    The result was lost time, slow decisions and a sense that no one could ever get ahead. The leaders were spending more time managing meetings than leading the business. Over time, even talented people became frustrated. Some started blocking out fake “focus time” just to survive. Others disengaged quietly, attending meetings but contributing very little because they no longer believed anything would change.

    That loss of energy was as damaging as the loss of time.

    Step 1: Define what deserves a meeting

    We started by asking a simple question: Does this really need to be a meeting?

    Many recurring calls existed because “We’ve always had them.” That logic had never been challenged. We cut every meeting that wasn’t tied to a decision, a problem that needed solving or collaboration that truly benefited from live discussion.

    Updates that could be shared in writing were moved to a short weekly summary. Everyone received the same information, but they could read it in minutes instead of sitting through another call.

    One senior manager told me later that this was the first time in years he could start his day by planning priorities instead of bracing for back-to-back calls. That shift gave him more control and a clearer sense of direction.

    This step alone cleared out hours from everyone’s calendar. It also reframed meetings as intentional choices rather than habits carried over from the past.

    Step 2: Put guardrails on time and attendance

    Next, we established strict rules.

    Meetings defaulted to 30 minutes. Longer sessions had to be justified. Every meeting required a clear lead who owned the agenda, kept the conversation on track and confirmed next steps.

    Attendance rules changed, too. Instead of large calls with every stakeholder, we invited only the people who were critical to the discussion. If input was needed later, it was requested offline.

    This change reduced group fatigue and raised accountability. Smaller groups made faster decisions. Leaders also realized that not being invited to a meeting wasn’t exclusion; it was respect for their time.

    Related: Data Doesn’t Lie: Shorter Meetings Can Make You 3X More Productive

    Step 3: Standardize decisions

    One hidden reason meetings drag on is that people leave without clarity. That lack of closure is what fuels the cycle of repeat conversations.

    We solved this by introducing a simple “decision log.” Every meeting ended with three key things:

    1. The decision made

    2. The identified owner

    3. The next step

    It took discipline, but once the team adjusted, decisions stopped bouncing around. Follow-up meetings shrank because everyone knew who was responsible and by when. Teams didn’t have to revisit the same issue over and over.

    The decision log also became a leadership tool. Leaders could review it weekly to see what was moving forward and what was stalling. That visibility improved accountability across the entire transformation.

    Step 4: Track the wins

    We measured meeting time before and after.

    Leaders logged their weekly hours, and within weeks the difference was clear. By the end of 12 months, meeting hours had dropped by more than 50%. On average, each leader reclaimed over 10 hours a week.

    The biggest win wasn’t just time. It was energy. Leaders felt less drained and more able to focus on the work that actually moved the business forward. Several commented that they finally ended their week with a sense of progress instead of exhaustion.

    One leader said she could finally prepare properly for board discussions because she had blocks of uninterrupted time again. Another shared that his team trusted the process more because decisions no longer shifted or disappeared. These were small cultural shifts that created lasting impact.

    The human side of fewer meetings

    It’s easy to think of meeting reduction as a numbers game, but the benefits go much deeper. With fewer meetings, leaders gained the space to think, plan and lead. They could show up with more presence in the meetings that remained because they weren’t already depleted.

    This had an impact on trust. People began to believe in the process because they saw that decisions stuck and time wasn’t wasted. That trust built momentum. Leaders became known for clarity instead of endless discussion.

    When people feel their time is respected, they give more energy back to the work. That cultural benefit often matters more than the hours saved.

    From this experience, three lessons stood out.

    • Treat time as a resource. If a meeting doesn’t create value, it’s a cost.

    • Put strict guardrails around time and attendance. Meetings expand to the size you allow.

    • Standardize how decisions are made and captured. Without this, meetings repeat themselves.

    These aren’t complex ideas, but they require discipline. Leaders who apply them consistently change not only their calendars but their culture.

    Related: Our Meeting Obsession Is Hurting Our Work And Our Wellbeing

    What you can do now

    Look at your own calendar and ask yourself three questions:

    • Which meetings exist only out of habit?

    • Which can be replaced with a short written update?

    • Where do decisions get lost, forcing repeat conversations?

    Answering those questions honestly is the first step to cutting your meeting load in half and winning back the hours you need most.

    Try applying one change in the next week. Cancel a standing call that adds little value. Shorten a 60-minute meeting to 30. End every meeting with a clear decision and next step. These small shifts build confidence, and once you see the results, it becomes easier to apply the larger changes.

    The point of cutting meetings is not to slash your calendar for the sake of it. The goal is to create space for the work that matters most. When leaders reclaim their time, they gain clarity, energy and the ability to lead with focus instead of reacting to every demand.

    Start with your calendar. Once you take charge of your time, every other part of your leadership gets stronger too.

    Most leaders know the frustration of wasted meetings. Long agendas, too many attendees and little to show for hours lost. For one group of senior leaders I worked with, this wasn’t just an annoyance. It was cutting into strategy time, slowing down decisions and draining energy across the business.

    In less than a year, we cut their meeting time in half. Each leader won back more than 10 hours every week, and the organization became faster, clearer and more accountable.

    Here’s how it happened, and how you can do the same.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Bayo Akinola-Odusola

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  • How to Win Over the Room With Effective Persuasion Skills | Entrepreneur

    How to Win Over the Room With Effective Persuasion Skills | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I’ve navigated countless conference rooms and boardrooms in the dynamic business world, where ideas compete for attention, and the stakes are always high. Through these experiences spanning four decades, I’ve discerned that winning a room isn’t merely about presenting impeccable data, flashing beautifully designed slides or weaving a web of words. It’s about crafting an experience, fostering connection and evoking a shared sense of purpose.

    One time, in a contemporary conference room filled with natural light, I had the task of proposing a game-changing initiative to key partners and investors for my business startup. These individuals had seen it all: seasoned veterans of corporate battles and strategic alliances. The ambiance was palpable, a mix of anticipation and scrutiny. The stakes were high, and I walked into the meeting knowing I had to nail my presentation to win them all over.

    Related: 5 Tips to Amplify the Way You Conduct Meetings

    I planned and prepared my presentation so many times that it was memorized. However, I didn’t want to come across as reciting the proposal in a stiff and robotic manner. I knew I needed to pull out all my tools and resources to do the best possible job I could.

    As I was finalizing my preparation, memories of my early days in business rushed back. Those formative moments taught me that the essence of any successful pitch or presentation lies in its human touch. So, I knew I would begin not with cold, hard stats but with a relatable story. A tale that I thought would resonate with the people in the meeting. I would do this by sharing experiences, challenges, and analogies that might bridge the gap between me and my audience.

    To win a room is also to understand its pulse. Every gesture and every silent response taking place as I spoke was feedback, guiding me to adjust, recalibrate and pivot my message and presentation style to the room’s heartbeat. I needed to be like a conductor leading an orchestra. It was my job to ensure everyone was attuned to the same rhythm, moving together towards a shared vision — the vision I was presenting that day.

    As I reached the end of my section of the meeting, the connection was evident. I had not just delivered a well-thought-out proposal; I had resonated with everyone there, creating a symphony, if you will, of shared aspirations.

    How did I know? Not only by the look on their faces but by the indescribable energy and buzz in the room. Side conversations had started, and animated gestures were everywhere. I hadn’t delivered a message that satisfied just the analytical side of their brains; I had also touched on the emotional triggers needed to seal my goals and get their approvals.

    How can you do this? How do you approach a business meeting in a way that lets you win a room?

    1. Start with a personal touch: Before diving into data or the main topic, share a brief personal anecdote, analogy or story about your main message. Or start with a question that intrigues or enlightens them. This creates a human connection and immediately captures attention. Remember, people resonate with experiences and emotions more than mere facts.

    2. Master the art of active listening: While presenting or pitching, pay close attention to the reaction of the people in the room. Adjust your approach based on nonverbal feedback cues, such as body language or facial expressions. This demonstrates your empathy and flexibility, showing the audience you’re attuned to their needs and concerns.

    3. Provide visual engagement: Use visual aids, whether slides, props, or even hand gestures, to emphasize key points. But ensure they complement and not overshadow your message. Sometimes, a well-timed visual can drive a point home more effectively than words alone.

    4. Practice authenticity: Be genuine in your delivery. People can detect insincerity from a mile away. If you believe in what you’re saying, it will shine through and make it easier for others to believe. If you ever think back on a time you stumbled in a meeting, it was probably when you questioned what you were saying or had doubt about it. People notice these hiccups.

    5. Conclude with a call to action: Leave your audience with a clear, actionable step or thought about what you want them to do next. This makes your message linger and prompts their reflection or action long after the meeting has ended.

    Related: Do the Same People Always Talk at Your Meetings? Ask Yourself These 10 Questions to Make Meetings More Productive

    In my own quiet moments of thought following that meeting with the partners and investors, I realized a universal truth. Regardless of the setting or the audience, to win a room is to touch the emotional center of someone, not just their intellect.

    So, whatever type of business encounter you’re in, remember: to genuinely win a room, you must evoke a shared journey, a shared dream or a shared emotion with your audience. It’s in this collective vision that the magic of persuasion truly unfolds. Touch both the hearts and the minds of your audience, and you, too, will win a room every time.

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    Lauren Hirsch Williams

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  • Get This AI Meeting Assistant and Save More Than $100 | Entrepreneur

    Get This AI Meeting Assistant and Save More Than $100 | Entrepreneur

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    Even when you make a point to have fewer meetings, it seems like we can’t eradicate them entirely — especially in the world of remote and hybrid work. So, you might as well make meetings more efficient and actionable. Laxis AI Meeting Assistant can help you do just that, whether you’re focused on sales, business development, content marketing, product research, customer success, or anything else.

    Trusted by more than 20,000 business professionals and 3,000 organizations, Laxis AI Meeting Assistant extracts key insights from every interaction to help you take more diligent notes, unlock valuable insights, and drive smarter decision-making. It will help you follow up with customers, empower your teams with information, and streamline customer interactions with ease.

    Pre-meeting, Laxis gives you personalized meeting templates to help you keep the meeting on track and quickly integrates with tools like Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Microsoft Teams. During the meeting, it records and transcribes live conversations and video chats, allowing you to highlight and tag action items throughout.

    Post-meeting, you can upload the existing audio files for transcription, apply your own template to the transcription to align with similar meetings and automate data analysis. LaxisChat can answer questions based on past conversations during the meeting, and Laxis AI Writer gets to work after the meeting to automatically generate follow-up emails, meeting summaries, customer requirements, action items, and project updates.

    This tool has earned 4.7/5 stars on GetApp and Capterra, 4.9/5 stars on G2, and a perfect 5-star rating on Product Hunt.

    Find out why when you sign up for a One-Year Premium Subscription to Laxis AI Meeting Assistant for just $47.99 (reg. $160).

    Prices subject to change.

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    Entrepreneur Store

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  • What A Great Meeting Culture Looks Like (And How to Get Started) | Entrepreneur

    What A Great Meeting Culture Looks Like (And How to Get Started) | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    For most organizations, meeting culture is a real challenge. For many, it feels like meetings consume all available productive time, especially our most productive workday times.

    The real challenge is not the meetings themselves but the culture of meetings, who gets invited, their frequency and efficacy.

    I first learned how to address meeting culture when I became the president of a small company with an extraordinary amount of meetings, given that we only had 25 employees. To create awareness of the actual cost of meetings, we calculated the average dollar cost per person per hour.

    Related: Why Meeting Culture is Draining your Employee’s Strength and Productivity

    Secondly, we did an audit over two weeks, in which we asked leaders to track the number of people in their meetings and the length of the meeting. As you can imagine, there was an immediate decline in the number of meetings and duration due to the awareness the exercise created. At the end of the two weeks, we calculated the average cost of a meeting. The team was genuinely shocked by the actual cost of these meetings.

    Thirdly, we changed the units from dollars to product sales by calculating how many products we needed to sell to pay for a meeting. We took our most popular and largest-selling product as the unit of measure. We said, “This meeting cost 18 product A’s.” We found this was much more effective than simply giving the dollar amount since the team had an excellent appreciation for what it takes to sell that product.

    At the end of the month, I told the team, “We spent 284 Product A’s on meetings this month!” Doing this exercise once a year or every six months.

    Related: ‘Meeting Culture’ Is Costing Companies $101 Million a Year

    Using the modes of meetings to change the culture

    The first thing we had to understand was that there are three modes of meetings:

    • 1:1 meeting (one-to-one)
    • 1:n meeting (one to many)
    • n:n meetings (many to many)

    This led to a framework in which we were able to ask each person calling a meeting to choose the most effective mode of the meeting that would be most effective.

    If we were having a one-to-one meeting, it would be highly effective if both people knew how to manage distractions and stay focused. If it was a one-to-many meeting, the most effective way to do this was a webinar-style meeting. This meant having one person “host” the meeting and another presenting the content. If the meeting was on Zoom, the host managed the comments and questions in the chat while the presenter presented.

    We found that “many-to-many” meetings were clearly the least effective, least respectful and often the default mode. We reserved the ability to call these meetings to only senior-level people in the company. We intentionally restricted the frequency and kept them focused as an example of how meetings should be run.

    Related: What Your Company Meetings Say About Your Culture

    Introducing FIRE meetings

    So, this led us to change our meeting culture. Fire is an acronym for “Focused, Informative, Respectful, and Effective.”

    When setting up a meeting, we start with Focused, in which we train leaders to ask:

    • What is the right mode for this meeting?
    • What will make this meeting successful?

    The next component is Informative. We train leaders to think through the information they want to present and divide them into three categories:

    • What must they know?
    • What is the key point?
    • What additional information can I add to make the meeting more interesting and engaging? (including a great story, fun facts, etc.)

    Keeping meetings Respectful means giving people enough warning before a meeting is called to give them time to prepare or reorganize their schedules. We encourage everyone to be on the call two minutes early so that the meeting part starts on time. This is a keystone organizational habit that creates respect in the culture.

    People who run meetings right to the last minute do not leave time to arrive two minutes early to the next meeting. For this reason, we teach leaders to wrap up the meeting with five minutes to spare and end two minutes early. Once this becomes part of the meeting culture, everything changes for the team. There is a more calm and peaceful atmosphere when moving from meeting to meeting.

    Finally, we get to the element of being Effective. We encourage leaders to keep the discussions focused and to minimize rabbit trails. At the halfway mark, they can state, “We’re halfway through our meeting, and we still need to reach our objective.” At the end of the meeting, leaders need to state if the objective has been reached clearly. They need to give clear next steps as to who is doing what and by when. If the meeting ends early, don’t prolong it.

    I once ran a meeting with the team on the call three minutes beforehand, and since everybody was present, we started the meeting. We reached our objective in under two minutes and were able to end the meeting before it officially started!

    Related: How to Create a Meeting-Smart Work Culture

    Building a culture to empower FIRE meetings

    Encourage leaders to invite people based on the right time, not “just in case.” By this, I mean we often invite people “just in case” they need to be there or may need the information. This is not respectful of their time and undoubtedly ineffective for the organization. Some people need to know at some point, but the real question is whether the meeting is the right time for them to be part of the discussion.

    There needs to be cultural permission for people to say no to meetings. When a leader is willing to give that cultural permission to their team, they will find a much more productive and effective team member who feels respected and empowered. In the long term, giving culture permission for people to decline meetings profoundly affects the team’s productivity, culture and efficacy.

    FIRE meetings can dramatically change the meeting culture of any organization. It makes every team member feels respected as well as informed. Meetings are taken much more seriously when they are called in the right mood, with the right frequency, with the right people in the room, started and ended with a two-minute margin.

    Every organization can enjoy this much-needed meeting culture shift.

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    Dionne Van Zyl

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  • 10 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Meetings More Productive | Entrepreneur

    10 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Meetings More Productive | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Inclusive meetings boost innovation, decision making and business results. By actively involving all participants, you unlock a wealth of diverse ideas, insights and solutions. Inclusive meetings promote creativity, innovation and problem-solving. As different perspectives are shared, the group elevates their thinking and grows beyond status quo superficial ideas and solutions. Inclusive meetings contribute to a positive and inclusive culture, where individuals feel respected, valued and more engaged.

    Yet, most meetings aren’t inclusive. How do you know if your meeting is exclusive?

    • The same people dominate discussions
    • People are interrupted frequently
    • The right people aren’t in the room
    • It’s all presentation and no discussion
    • There is a lack of clear next steps and purpose

    The role of a meeting facilitator is critical to inclusive meetings. The challenge is most people aren’t trained or developed to have inclusive meetings. They learn non-inclusive behaviors modeled by other leaders and perpetuate the same vicious cycle.

    Consider these 10 prompts to drive more inclusion as a facilitator:

    1. Have you shared and asked for feedback on the meeting’s purpose and agenda in advance?
    2. Is everyone at the meeting necessary to fulfill the purpose? (marking people optional on a meeting is a great best practice)
    3. Do you have an inclusive icebreaker exercise to kick off?
    4. Is discussion necessary to debate, brainstorm or problem solve vs. present only?
    5. Do you have mechanisms (polls, chat, notes) to facilitate discussion?
    6. Have you set norms to rotate speaking roles so that everyone feels psychologically safe speaking at the meeting?
    7. Are you rotating note-taking responsibilities from previous meetings?
    8. Do you have a plan to facilitate discussion if team members do not speak up or speak too much?
    9. Did you set the next steps and assign them to team members?
    10. Do you have an accountability plan to ensure the next steps are completed prior to the next meeting?

    If you didn’t fair well on the checklist, you’re not alone. Most meetings do not reach 50% of this criteria most of the time. To boost inclusion at your next meeting, consider these ideas:

    • Have a pre-work exercise to stimulate thinking in advance
    • Start the meeting with an icebreaker to learn more about team members
    • Rotate key roles intentionally at the meeting to evenly distribute participation

    Related: Make Sure Your Meetings Don’t Waste Everyone’s Time by Doing These 10 Things

    Have a pre-work exercise to stimulate thinking in advance

    Sometimes, people may feel hesitant to speak up during meetings due to time constraints or fear of being put on the spot. Encourage more introverted participants to share their ideas or questions before the meeting, either through email or collaboration tools. This approach provides an opportunity for everyone to contribute, even if they’re not comfortable speaking up during the meeting itself.

    It’s a good idea to keep timing in mind. Limit pre-work to a task that takes no more than 10 minutes with clear expectations such as reading this article and coming prepared to discuss your biggest takeaway or watching this video and picking one example that resonated with you and works well. This starts the meeting on an equal playing field where all team members are prepared to engage.

    Start the meeting with an icebreaker to learn more about team members

    For an icebreaker to be inclusive, be mindful of the implications of class, race, gender and other dimensions of diversity. Even well-intentioned icebreakers can reinforce stereotypes or preclude people from the very conversation they’re hoping to create. For example, travel experiences or activities that require socioeconomic status can be limited to participants and may be of a lower class which is often correlated to other dimensions of diversity.

    Examples of inclusive icebreakers could be a short simple share about a positive event that happened at work, something people might misunderstand or not know about you yet, or a two-word emotional check-in on how your day is going. These quick shares generate discussion and make it more likely that team members will participate inclusively in the remainder of the meeting.

    Related: Having Trouble Speaking Up in Meetings? Try This Strategy.

    Rotate key roles intentionally at the meeting to evenly distribute participation

    Non-promotable tasks or administrative tasks like note-taking, food preparation or social event organization largely fall on women and people of color. Watch out for how these important yet not highly valued tasks are distributed. A best practice is to be mindful of the administrative tasks necessary for the meeting to be successful and intentionally rotate them to different people each time. If someone says they’re not good at taking notes, ask them to practice and learn. Set the norm for everyone to participate in these tasks. This has a ripple effect on fairness and respect as people learn that everyone’s role is equally valued.

    By intentionally distributing these responsibilities, you create a more inclusive dynamic where everyone has an opportunity to contribute beyond their designated roles. It also helps challenge traditional power dynamics and fosters a sense of shared ownership and accountability.

    Inclusive meetings are not just a buzzword; they are a powerful tool for unlocking the full potential of your team or group. By actively involving all participants, valuing diverse perspectives and creating a safe and respectful environment, you can harness the collective intelligence and creativity of your team. As a meeting facilitator, it’s crucial to be mindful of inclusive practices, rotate roles and responsibilities and create opportunities for everyone to contribute. By embracing inclusivity, you can drive innovation, better decision-making and improved business results.

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    Julie Kratz

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  • 9 Keys to Leading Great Sales Team Meetings | Entrepreneur

    9 Keys to Leading Great Sales Team Meetings | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    At the end of a meeting, have you ever said to yourself, “That was a total waste of time. It could have been an email.” You likely have, since, according to MIT Sloan Management Review, only around 50% of meeting time is effective, well-used, and engaging.

    That’s a sobering thought because the impact of ineffective sales meetings extends far beyond wasted time.

    One of the many roles of sales managers is to lead team meetings that help build high-performing sales teams. New research found that top-performing sales managers are 42% more likely than other managers to excel at leading valuable sales team meetings.

    Furthermore, how a sales manager is perceived as a meeting leader contributes significantly to the team’s overall confidence in their manager.

    When sales managers aren’t successful here, the team’s performance suffers. This translates into lower win rates, more deals lost to competitors or no decision, and missed targets.

    Plenty of books, university-level courses and other resources promise to teach you how to run successful meetings. But like many topics in business, the secret to success is to do a common thing uncommonly well.

    To run successful sales team meetings, you must do these nine things:

    Related: 6 Secrets to a Successful Sales Meeting

    1. Create attendee value

    Your meetings may be valuable to you. You get what you need, find out what’s going on and drive the actions you want. But to get these outcomes, you must make sure people want to attend your meetings. For that to happen, give your attendees value in every meeting.

    One way to do this is to think through “Learn, Feel, Do” before the meeting.

    • What do you want attendees to learn? If they get something valuable, they’ll keep coming back.

    • What do you want attendees to feel? Is it motivation to succeed? Pride in their achievements? Confidence in you? Encouragement to step up and perform?

    • What do you want attendees to do? This may be something general, such as staying on top of their plans to hit their targets or something meeting-specific, such as completing a particular action item.

    2. Have objectives and an agenda

    You don’t want people wondering what the meeting is about. Make sure you explain the importance of it in a sentence or two. Objectives and an agenda provide a compass and roadmap for successful meetings.

    This doesn’t mean meetings need to be rigid. For instance, you might set aside some time to brainstorm a particular topic. But people need to know in advance the purpose of the meeting and what you’ll be covering. Anything that could be covered in an email, a call or a video is often better done that way.

    3. Manage meeting hygiene

    Start on time, end on time, make sure your technology is set up and working ahead of time — have a plan B for what to do if something stops working and so on.

    And if you don’t need all the allocated time, release people and gift them their time back. They will thank you for it!

    4. Grab and maintain engagement

    As the leader, it’s up to you to grab attention at the beginning and maintain it throughout. Remember to:

    • Start well: Use an icebreaker. Engage people early. Tell a quick story. Do something to start the meeting with good energy.

    • Involve people: The more a meeting is collaborative and has multiple voices, the more engaging it tends to be.

    • Remember the 30 + 3 rule: You have about 30 seconds to grab engagement at the beginning of a meeting, and you need to ensure it stays high every three minutes — especially in virtual meetings.

    • Take notes: If it’s an in-person meeting, use a whiteboard or flip chart. In virtual meetings, screen journal key points. It’ll help keep people’s focus.

    Related: 5 Tips to Make Your Meetings More Effective

    5. Stay MOSTLY on track

    As the leader, it’s up to you to ensure the meeting stays on track. Assuming you have an agenda, you can always say, “I’m going to stop here to make sure we’re able to cover everything on the agenda.”

    Meeting leaders that don’t do this allow others to divert the discussion, taking time away from critical topics. But be careful not to embarrass the off-topic person. Just jump in and keep the meeting going. Do it right, and you’ll gain the confidence of all the attendees.

    6. Facilitate, collaborate, and be inclusive

    Successful meetings are interactive. Facilitate. Ask questions. Draw out the discussion. Include team interaction.

    Before the meeting, give people roles to play or things to contribute. Allowing people time to prepare is helpful for any introverts on your team. Collaboration and interaction help make meetings more successful and engaging.

    At the same time, remember that meetings are a status arena. When people have roles, share ideas, ask questions and are involved, it builds their brand and reputation. Give people space to do this, and you’ll have a high-performing and engaged team.

    7. Motivate (and don’t demotivate)

    Research shows that the No. 1 capability of top-performing sales managers is motivating the team to achieve top performance. Give positive feedback, and highlight successes in meetings. When you do this, you increase motivation.

    Be careful not to demotivate. This doesn’t mean you can’t dive into problems and challenges — you can — but build a safe space where people can say what’s on their minds and feel they won’t be attacked or judged harshly. Otherwise, they won’t participate in your meetings. Focus on issues, not people, when discussing problems. Save critical feedback for one-on-ones.

    8. Be prepared, and show you’re prepared

    Imagine yourself as an attendee at a meeting. The leader shows up somewhat frazzled from previous meetings, shuffles through notes for a reminder of what this meeting is about, and then says, “Okay, what’s on people’s minds for today to cover?”

    Imagine the leader shows up on time as usual, has the agenda posted for attendees, and then says, “Okay, folks, for today, I’d like to start with a question” — and then engages the team on something worthwhile before moving into a set agenda with ease and efficiency.

    Most people get value from the second type of meeting, but not the first. And most people have high confidence and opinions of the second type of meeting leader, but not the first. If you are prepared and come across prepared, you put yourself in a stronger position to lead the team.

    Related: How to Make Meetings Less Tedious and More Engaging

    9. Finish with actions, drive accountability

    Finally, finish with actions and then drive accountability. Often, meetings result in action items: something important needs to get done, someone volunteers to do it, and you set a timeframe for it.

    Conclude your meetings consistently with a summary of actions — including what, who and when — and then review them at the next meeting. If you need to, follow up with an email after the meeting to help keep the team on track.

    Of course, within these nine keys to effective meeting leadership, there’s more to learn, think about and explore. However, if you keep these nine points in mind, your meetings, and your teams’ performance, will be more successful.

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    Andy Springer

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  • How to Make Your Weekly Status Meetings More Exciting

    How to Make Your Weekly Status Meetings More Exciting

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Team meetings are often the most telling sign of the culture of an organization. And who among us hasn’t attended the painfully dry and dull weekly status meeting? The format is predictable: Each person shares their work status and then ends up with a brand new to-do list by the end.

    Status meetings can be useful. But most employees tune out of these meetings until it’s their time to speak. This defeats the whole purpose of sharing information and engaging in a meeting. This format couldn’t be worse for employee engagement and organizational morale. It causes employees to daydream, put themselves on mute, pretend they are taking notes on their laptop while perusing Facebook, browse other jobs on LinkedIn, etc. And with remote meetings, disengagement becomes even more likely.

    Unproductive meetings are more than just an occasional nuisance. According to research, the average employee spends 35% of their time in meetings, approximately 67% of which are considered unproductive. This results in a total cost of $47M per year in labor cost hours.

    Do you want to transform meetings at your organization from a routine, unvaluable experience to a motivating and inspiring one? If so, start by addressing the following questions and using the tips below:

    1. Are our meetings efficient and purposeful?

    Do our meetings have a clear, specific agenda beyond updating each other on statuses? Are there topics spelled out ahead of time that need to be discussed? Are materials sent ahead of time to reduce time wasted in meetings? Are meetings facilitated strongly so that they don’t stray off-topic?

    Tip: Set context for the meeting beforehand by denoting specific areas that need to be discussed. Ensure that only employees relevant to meeting topics are required to attend, and keep it optional for others. Often, meetings can veer off topic by one or more attendees expressing other concerns. Ensure that the meeting leader is able to keep the meeting on course and make progress on the topic(s) at hand while making note of other issues for a follow-up discussion if needed. Try to keep to the scheduled agenda of the meeting and end on time. Keep meetings snappy and efficient.

    Related: When Meetings Get Stuck: Getting Past the ‘Cork in the Bottle’

    2. Are our meetings inspiring?

    Routine meetings that occur on a weekly or daily basis can start being taken for granted by both leaders and employees. The meetings then have a tendency of jumping right into the weeds: current status updates and upcoming action items and steps. Do you take the time to inspire employees and keep them tethered to the big-picture goals?

    Tip: We can make these meetings more inspiring by setting big-picture context at the onset and conclusion of the meetings: iterating the project vision, long-term goals and outcomes (and why they are exciting). Encouraging an attitude of innovation and openness to solve problems in new ways. Rather than jumping into the weeds right away, start the meeting by setting intention and ground rules that focus on inviting input, innovation and crazy ideas from all members of the team, regardless of level. Just voicing this intention can help inspire a mindset of openness and non-judgment across the team.

    Related: How to Lead Effectively and Inspire During Virtual Meetings

    3. Do our meetings foster inclusion and collaboration?

    Do meetings maintain a clear hierarchy or differential in terms of contribution level? Is the meeting conversation dominated by one or two people? Is there enough space for each member to contribute not just status, but ideas as well?

    Tip: One way to increase inclusion in meetings is to remember that not every individual communicates best through words and may find it difficult to voice his/her ideas in a group. Meetings often form a competitive and stressful environment in which every voice struggles to be heard, and the loudest and most assertive ones usually win.

    Consider other forms of gathering input from all members: menti.com is a great tool for polling and crowdsourcing ideas or using chat features on Zoom. If you want to be more creative, lead a drawing/diagramming exercise in your meeting, where each individual is able to pictorially show their vision and ideas and share them with the group. Look for parallels/synergies between ideas to create a collaborative whole.

    4. Along the same lines, do our meetings give space for conflicting ideas?

    Are meetings dominated by groupthink, or are team members empowered to speak up in disagreement? Often the quietest members in a meeting are the ones who aren’t quite on board, and these are the individuals that may need to be heard from.

    Tip: One of the most important points for a meeting leader to remember is that silence does not necessarily equate to agreement. A valuable skill of a leader is a keen awareness of the collective field of the team and each individual. If a participant seems less engaged or enthusiastic, as a leader, it behooves you to encourage and support that person to speak up — even if, and especially if, he/she has a differing viewpoint. Addressing individuals by name, you may say something like, “Kate, it looks like you might feel differently. What are you thinking?”

    5. Are our meetings appreciative?

    Do we show recognition and appreciation to individuals for successes big and small by naming them in meetings? Do we thank all members of the meeting for their unique contributions?

    Tip: To foster a healthy organizational culture, remember to celebrate both financial and non-financial successes. Emphasize all of the goals of the organization (e.g., diversity, collaboration, acts of kindness) — not just those directly related to financial gain. Often, the simple act of showing you noticed good work is enough to boost morale.

    Truly constructive company meetings depend on both clarity of agenda and cross-functional and cross-organizational openness to sharing ideas and opinions. These are the types of meetings that everyone in the team looks forward to attending each week. They know they will have a chance to be heard and introduce something new. Aim to use new facilitation techniques and collaborative technology to revamp your company’s meetings. Then watch your employee engagement, innovation and performance dramatically boost.

    Related: 3 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Meetings

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    Sam Basu

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  • 6 Questions to Prepare Technology Leaders For Their Next Board Meeting

    6 Questions to Prepare Technology Leaders For Their Next Board Meeting

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It’s no secret that planning and running effective board meetings takes a lot of time and research. But how much do meetings these accomplish? Not as much as they could, according to research by Korn Ferry. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that board members are well briefed. Even though board meetings can be scary for people who aren’t used to them or aren’t ready for them, if handled correctly, they can be an excellent chance for the technology leaders to share updates, come up with new ideas and get the support and opinions of other important people in the company. In this article, I’ll provide a list of key questions you need to be prepared to answer in your next board meeting.

    But first, here’s perhaps the most essential tip you need before going into a board meeting: Know your target audience. It is vital to research the past experiences of each member of the board and the other boards they serve before having your first meeting with them.

    Even if most board members have only a basic understanding of information technology, they are aware of the most pressing issues since they keep up with the latest developments or what they have acquired from serving on other boards. If you keep an eye on those companies and do some research before you go in front of the board, you should have no problem answering their questions.

    After knowing the target audience, it’s also important to be ready to answer these tricky, timely questions below to show your board members that information technology is being led in the right direction:

    Related: Too Many Board Meetings Suffer From This Destructive Flaw

    1. How well are we prepared against current cyber threats?

    Board members continue to prioritize cybersecurity, which is particularly important given the increasing turbulence worldwide. Technology leaders should always be ready for this complicated question but shouldn’t give doomsday predictions or seem too sure of themselves.

    Be prepared to answer cyber-risk-related concerns. Stress that even if the risk is unlikely, it could have a significant impact, so you should plan for what you’ll do to reduce it. Discuss where you aren’t as secure, but quickly follow up with how you’re improving, your strategy and how they can hold you responsible for improving and minimizing any cyber-attack threats.

    Given the present state of the economy worldwide, some boards may wonder whether cyber-attack defense measures can be implemented more affordably. Most of the time, the answer is “no,” especially if the company needs to keep its expertise or keep itself safe. Time, cost and quality make up the balance triangle, and technology leaders must stress how important each one is.

    2. Are we investing in technology that supports our strategy?

    The board members may demand reassurance that the technology leaders have command of the IT investments that support the company’s strategy. Because of this, it’s essential to show how these investments fit into the overall investment plan and guarantee as good a return as possible.

    Board members could also come up with their ideas for new technologies after hearing about them from competitors or other boards they are already on. As a result, technology leaders must be ready to respond to their questions.

    A business context, not a technological context, should be used to address questions of this kind. The response may be determined by how well the company is performing and how well it is positioned economically. And in the digital space, is the company aiming to lead or follow?

    3. What strategies are you employing to retain and recruit IT skills?

    Due to the talent shortage in the IT industry on a global scale, board members may ask technology leaders what their company is doing to grow talent from within and what strategies they use to keep the talent they already have. They may even enquire about the rates of staff turnover and the companies’ processes to attract new staff. Are you only offering a higher salary, or do you also have other enticing benefits?

    Related: The Employee Retention Master Tip for Technology Companies

    4. Should we automate to fill hiring gaps?

    Some board members could also ask about automation or robots as alternatives if there aren’t enough competent staff. The question may be, “Could we do it more effectively with automation because we can’t find enough people to perform these tasks anyway?” Would it help the company become more robust or allow us to run more affordably in the medium- or long-term, not just today? Technology leaders should list the company operations that might or ought to be automated.

    5. How are you cultivating an inclusive, equitable and diverse IT team?

    With a growing focus on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) as a critical workplace goal and productivity driver, technology leaders should be ready to explain their DEI initiatives, including how they recruit this talent.

    Questions of sustainability may also be covered in these corporate responsibility issues. For example, they may ask “What are you doing to manage a more sustainable IT organization, lowering your data center footprint or switching to the cloud?”

    6. What should we be worried about that we don’t know?

    The board of directors depends on your report to assist in developing the company’s strategy. Things should begin with a clear top-three list. Always consider your choices before answering. Start with a statement, “Externally, there is a potential revenue growth possibility by a given percentage.” Alternatively, inquire about what your competitors are doing, and elaborate. Or say something like, “The competitor we don’t even see today is likely doing this.” Never make up a response if a question arises out of the blue that you are ill-equipped to respond to.

    Related: If You Want a Good Relationship With Your Board, You Need to Ask These Questions

    Technology leaders must conduct IT board meetings with more organization, planning and teamwork than they do in-person meetings. Making preparations will pay off. The first impression is always the most important. If you can get off to a good start in the first three meetings, your life will be much easier. Otherwise, it will become problematic down the road.

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    Steve Taplin

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  • tClara’s Study Sheds New Light on Merits of Meeting in Person

    tClara’s Study Sheds New Light on Merits of Meeting in Person

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    Press Release
    –

    May 9, 2022


    CLEVELAND, May 9, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Today, tClara released its white paper “How We Meet Matters – Insights on Meetings and Travel from U.S. Business Leaders.” 

    “Business leaders are struggling to find the right balance between virtual and in-person meetings. This paper provides rich, fact-based context for making thoughtful decisions about the increasingly important issue of how to hold meetings,” said Scott Gillespie, CEO at tClara.

    Big Benefits of Meeting in Person

    tClara’s study finds that eight out of 10 business leaders agree that meeting in person with staff, managers and peers is important, makes it easier to build trust, strengthens company culture, and increases job commitment. 

    More Risks with Virtual Meetings

    Nearly half (47%) of those surveyed believe virtual meetings are more likely than meetings held in person to cause a wide range of negative outcomes, such as lost attention or ineffective leadership. 

    More Justified Business Travel Ahead

    The top-rated reason for taking a business trip is to earn customer trust. Notably, 92% of C-suite leaders agree that their frequent travelers should spend a few minutes justifying their trips before they travel. 

    “Companies need better ways to judge the merits of traveling for business. Objective pre- and post-trip assessments are the keys to using business travel more strategically,” asserts Gillespie. “This paper helps business leaders make better decisions about how to meet and why to travel.”

    The full report is available for download.

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    About tClara

    tClara provides provocative thought leadership to business travel stakeholders. Trip Tester™, our pre-trip justification tool, easily aligns business travel with key business goals and maximizes travel budgets. Learn more at www.triptester.com and www.tclara.com.

    About the Study

    Innovate MR surveyed 522 U.S.-based business leaders between Feb. 9-23, 2022. Each took at least five trips by airline in 2019 and has managed at least five staff. Ages are between 28 and 60 years old. The gender mix is 76% male and 24% female. All are college graduates and are employed in a variety of for-profit industries. The study was sponsored by CWT, Cytric by Amadeus, and Delta Air Lines.

    For more information:

    Scott Gillespie, tClara’s CEO and author of the study

    +1 216 272 1637 or scott@tclara.com

    Source: tClara LLC

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