"Let's have a meeting"

“Let’s have a meeting.” You’ve said it, now you feel better. Go on, admit it, you feel relieved. You can relax knowing you’ve taken the bull by the horns and done something. Pat yourself on the back, a date is going in the diary – a tangible action. Or is it? Do meetings in reality just slow everything down, courting deliberation and procrastination that simply delays getting the job under discussion done.

Meetings have become an unavoidable part of our business culture. We insist on them to make any decision, to start any project, to keep in touch with our team, even just to get through the day. If you don’t have a diary full of meetings you feel like somehow that you’re failing in your job. Even though too many meetings ironically prevent many of us doing our job and getting home on time.

It’s estimated that in the UK 5 million meetings happen everyday. And 80% of that time is wasted. Making sure meetings are well-designed and really needed is one way we can all make better use of our working day. And I'd like to suggest that’s all about injecting some PACE (Preparation, Action, Creative Control and Engagement) into our meeting schedules.

Purpose 
Do you actually need that meeting you have just suggested? If a meeting is habitual or has no clear objectives it can be a waste of time. There is a danger that pointless meetings become talking shops that are self gratifying rather than productive. 
If the only purpose is just to share information, could this be done more efficiently via electronic channels?

Action
A well-designed meeting is crafted to drive action. Measurable outcomes and actions are an essential output of a well-designed meeting. The close of the meeting should not be the end, it should be the start of the next phase of progress. 
The end of the meeting isn't the end of the discussion; the meeting should inspire people to think, discuss further and most importantly act.

Creative Control

A good chairperson is key; to keep order, to keep the meeting moving, keep an eye on the timings and to make sure the points are covered. But just as important is the chair's ability to energise the attendees, keep them engaged and involved. And this means listening and responding, provoking discussion and ideas. A robotic chair, whose only aim is to get through the agenda can fail to achieve anything but good timing and stifle creativity. 


Engagement 
Thorough preparation, commitment and enthusiastic engagement are key to a successful meeting. When you spot someone around the table stifling a yawn, fighting to stop their heavy eyelids from closing or doodling aimlessly across the top of the agenda papers you know the meeting is destined to be a waste. So... 



• Everyone involved should have the information they need to contribute to the meeting in advance of the event. So a good, well thought out agenda (that they have opportunity to add to), an understanding of the expected outcomes and any background. 

 
• All attendees need to understand why they have been invited, what is expected from them and feel motivated to contribute. If a person hasn't got a direct role or anything specific to contribute, should they really be there? 

 

So, before you scurry off to your next pointless meeting, ask yourself does it need a bit of PACE?

What's happening to business news?

The media is changing; regional newspapers are dropping like flies as advertising revenue evaporates, print publications are getting thinner and more and more of us are relying on the internet to feed our hunger for business news. The business news world is changing so does business need to respond by updating its approach to media relations and PR too?

I went to an interesting panel debate this morning at the University of Warwick. Chaired by BBC Media Correspondent Torin Douglas, a panel of experts (David Arnott – Associate Professor of Marketing & E-business, Warwick Business School, Marc Reeves, Editor of the Birmingham Post and Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI and former editor of the FT) debated:

“Does business news no longer make for good business?”

The answer … in its current form no. The media world as we know it is balancing precariously on crisis point. No longer subsidised by advertising revenues, the traditional style daily business pages are no longer profitable or sustainable.

David Arnott started his opening presentation with the Chinese letters for crisis: one symbol representing danger and the other opportunity. His message – look for opportunities in the danger the internet presents to the dissemination of business news. Marc Reeves’ explanation of the struggles the Birmingham Post is experiencing in finding a profitable business model for regional news, clearly demonstrated this is easier said than done.

What is the danger? The internet has enabled the democratisation of information – if someone hears about something they have the power and the technology to find out more about this and spread this further. We no longer rely on newspapers for information.

As marketing professionals, we need to accept this reality. Instead of focusing all of our time and PR effort on the traditional print media, we should embrace and leverage the new ways to build profile through electronic word of mouth. Look for new media outlets to channel our messages. Use social media (blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn etc) as signposting tools to grab readers' attention and drive traffic to our websites. Make our releases and posts stand out amongst the masses of information by saying something exciting, insightful or challenging. As the media changes, work alongside it to become a trusted source of information and build your own followers (and in turn customers).

A legitimate business tool or a passing trend?

It’s hard to escape it. Conversations and the press are liberally scattered with references to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging. Everyone has a view on it and more and more people are dabbling in it. Some commentators are even arguing it could transform business interaction, providing a new way to promote businesses and keep in touch with clients. And more and more businesses are signing up. Let’s face it, we’re in a recession and any free form of marketing is worth considering.

But is the business legitimacy of social media limited to the digital and creative industries or can all businesses benefit? A thought-provoking presentation by Kirsty Farrelly of The Open Book Agency convinced me social media is worth serious business consideration. By having a professional social media strategy (e.g. a carefully defined market to target regular insightful updates) and tools in place to measure its effectiveness (e.g. Google Analytics) social media can offer a unique and cost-effective way to spread PR messages, start conversations with market press, build a reputation as an esteemed commentator on a topic and initiate relationships with potential clients and new recruits.

However, it remains a relatively new phenomena that still has stronger links with the celebrity world than professional marketing at the moment. This is where the challenge for marketers lies. In all but the most progressive of corporate firms, I can imagine requesting work time to dedicate to updating social media will prompt raised eyebrows from an organisation’s leadership. Convincing sceptics that social media has a real business value is still hard at the moment. The tag “social” media and playful terminology (such as tweeting) don't exactly help the selling of these potentially useful marketing tools as serious profile raising, reputation enhancing methods.

So the question is, is social media worth the effort? And with the longevity of these sites still uncertain, are companies that don’t sign up really missing out or is social media simply an over-hyped passing trend?