The mere mention of a meeting can send people scrambling for the solace of a long email chain. But meetings don’t have to be catalysts for eye rolls or iPhone games. Creativity is key. Within the EPA Innovation Team, we occasionally have walking meetings. I’m a big fan. Coffee meetings? Not as much. Despite meetingsRead… Read more »
Broadcasting meetings to residents live on the Internet needn’t cost the earth, as Monmouthshire County Council has demonstrated in recent weeks. The council has bypassed expensive monthly fees from livestreaming services by directly streaming meetings, from the council chamber in Usk, UK, to YouTube.Joanna Goodwin, my colleague and friend from my time at Monmouthshire, worksRead… Read more »
Shortly before I left my previous job in April, I was sitting in a meeting when the host explained “this is the meeting before the meeting before the meeting,” and I couldn’t help but make a wise crack about it… after all, I had one foot out the door. I had spent the past threeRead… Read more »
Several months ago, a coworker noticed I had a “throw down meeting” scheduled on my Outlook calendar. “Is everything OK?” she asked, eyebrows furled. I laughed, and realized I had some explaining to do! I told her “throw down” is slang for “fight” – those of us who work with troubled teens have heard aboutRead… Read more »
Let’s face it: most department meetings are lame. A lot of employees would rather have an hour to themselves than go to another boring department meeting. I have observed an unusually high number of urgent customer issues that seem to coincide with my department meetings. Getting your department together in one place all at theRead… Read more »
My favorite innovation techniques, such as brainwriting, come from some key books in my personal library: Gamestorming, Back of the Napkin, Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work, creatingminds.org, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Visual Explanations. Common to all of these resources is the concept of “visual language” or “visualRead… Read more »
Jack and I were comparing notes. We are working with several new companies, and a first step is to figure out what we have to work with. Early conversations tend to go on and not provide much direction, except to wear everyone out. However, recapping those conversations on a single sheet of paper sharpens everyone’sRead… Read more »
During your career, you might have the opportunity – or chore – of putting together a workshop, seminar or training session. It may be for work or be a committee task you’re assigned while a member of a professional association. You might be responsible for the content or just be the person in charge ofRead… Read more »
Meetings compose a large amount of your work time, but are they time well spent? Efficiency can be increased or decimated by the timing and structure of meetings. Think about the impact multiplier for each participant. Starting an eight person meeting 15 minutes late wastes two hours of work for the organization. Bad meetings areRead… Read more »
Meeting agendas would appear on their surface to be fairly mundane, simple documents used out of habit and obligation. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an agenda as “a list of things to be considered or done.” So what is it about a good agenda that can actually make your meetings better? Here are four tips forRead… Read more »