If you are going to preside over a meeting and your employees are attending, you can expect it to be difficult. You might have great ideas, but when you present them to the employees, they might not value those ideas. They might also have other ideas that some of the employees might even disagree with. It is one of the reasons why some meetings that you set for an hour extend for several hours.
You don’t want the meeting to be chaotic, so you need to prepare well before you invite everyone to enter the meeting room.
Research
You need to know what you will say. You are giving the presentation, so you need to look like the authority regarding the topic in question. If they have questions or disagreements, you can easily refute them, and also provide logical reasons for your responses. It does not mean your ideas are better than theirs, but at least you can defend what you have in mind.
Inform the attendees
Most leaders will invite employees attending the meeting only a day or even hours before the meeting. They don’t know what will happen, and they come with nothing to the table. As a result, they end up with lots of questions that delay the meeting. Since they did not have any idea what to talk about, the meeting is their first opportunity to raise all their concerns. Conversely, if you give them an idea of what will happen, they might come to you and ask before the meeting. It helps if you can clarify crucial information before you begin the session.
Prepare a visual presentation
Listening to you while speaking for hours can be boring for the attendees. You want them to feel engaged during the meeting and using wonderful visual aids will help. Don’t forget to ask your staff to set up the projector first before you begin the meeting. You can also buy a projector mount from www.unicol.com so that you can put the projector up permanently. When you need to use it, you can connect the cable to your computer, and you are good to go. You need to edit the visuals and practice how to use them. Check if they appear well on screen or if you need to adjust the colour and brightness.
Bring food
You need snacks during the meeting. It could take a long time, and you don’t want people to feel sleepy and anxious. Food also helps break the ice. When the tension is high, you can reduce it with food. Ask your staff to prepare the snacks before the meeting begins. You can also ask the attendees what meals they want.
Before you set up a meeting, you should have goals in mind. If you prepare well, you can achieve those goals. You might see different viewpoints during the discussion, but the conversation won’t be personal. You should also maintain your authority as a leader and not lose their respect after the meeting.
