Meetings are BORING!!
We’ve all been to meetings that seem to drag on forever, with seemingly little or no purpose. We often think afterward, “There’s an hour I’ll never get back”. Why are we bored? Probably because we think there’s nothing in it for us. After all, the world revolves around us, we are the most important person to us, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, I would say that there is always something for you in any gathering of people. You’ll get out of your life what you put into it. Here are some tips for making a meeting – even a boring one – more interesting and relevant to you.
- If you have any control over the meeting content, make sure there is an agenda. Even if it’s only three line items this lets everyone know why they are meeting. If you are attending a meeting without an agenda, make up your own to follow along with as they hour progresses, even if it’s only notes on what you want to leave the meeting knowing.
- Make sure you have a pen and paper with you, or your iPad if you can get away with it. Computers in meetings, unless you’re in charge of taking notes to pass out after, make people nervous. I just purchased a stylus for my iPad ($15 at Target), and downloaded the Noteshelf app ($4.98 from iTunes) and am enthralled with it. You can pick your paper, the pen colors and thicknesses, and it even has “wrist protection” that you turn on so you can rest your hand on the screen just as if it’s a pad of paper. Makes me want to set up a meeting just so I can try it out for real!
- If it’s a networking meeting, most often everyone in the room gets a chance to do a 30 or 60 second commercial for their business. This is where you can become completely unconscious, especially in a larger group, as you listen to 20/30/50 people tell you about their business.HOWEVER, this is also the perfect opportunity to liven up your own listening by taking notes. For each person who speaks, jot down their name and profession – or use the sheet provided by the savvy leaders of the meeting for just this purpose. Here’s the part where you have to listen and think, also note what kind of customer they are looking for or better yet, who you know who would be a good referral for them. So if a dentist talks about wanting to meet moms of preschoolers so that they can get off on the right path, make a note of your neighbor who has a 4 year old at home. After the meeting you can then talk to the dentist and see if that would be a good fit for their business. It will keep you engaged as you listen to up to 45 minutes of straight commercials.
- When it is your turn to speak, be prepared. Any businessperson should have a prepared 30-60 second presentation about their business. If not, then get to work!! But not during the meeting. Prepare ahead of time and have at least 2-3 variations with you at all times. Even having to read from your notes beats the rambler – you know, the person who is given 45 seconds and then talks for 2 minutes about nothing! The average attention span is about 60 seconds, maybe even less, so make sure you stick to the time given. If you go over, know that most of the people in the room have mentally tuned you out, so you are wasting your breath – and their time – anyway.
- If you are at a meeting where a presentation is taking place, make sure you focus on the presenter. You might think that no one will notice you texting or reading your email under the table, but trust me, we know. And we think less of you for it. If their presentation is truly horrible, make notes on how you will avoid those same mistakes whenever you speak in front of a group.
- Last but not least, engage with the people in the room. You never know who they know, or where the next piece of business is coming from. Below is a good example of one such experience.
I was told this story years ago, my apologies for forgetting who told it to me, and any variations from the truth are mine.
Paula was visiting a meeting for the first time. It was a business networking meeting held at a ballpark, and while she knew some of the people who would be attending, she had never been to this venue before. She arrived a few minutes early, and the only person in the room was a member of the catering staff. She went up, introduced herself, and engaged John in conversation. Turns out he worked there because he was bored in retirement, and this gave him an opportunity to spend time at the baseball park, which was a passion of his. The conversation continued for a few minutes, and she learned more about what he did before he retired. The rest of the people started to arrive and he finished up his work while she found a place to sit during the meeting.
During the next 90 minutes each of the business people had a chance to share what kind of business they were looking for, and who they would be interested in meeting. One gentleman in particular caught Paula’s attention, as he wanted to meet a Vice President at a local company in order to do business with him. After the meeting Paula went up to the man and said, “So you are looking to meet someone from XYZ company?” “Yes”, he replied eagerly. Pointing across the room where John was starting to clear away the buffet, she asked “Do you know John?”.
The man followed her hand and looked confused, “Who is John? You mean the waiter? No, I do not.”
Paula smiled and said “Perhaps you should introduce yourself, John was President of XYZ for 25 years before he retired”. Then she walked away, knowing by the look on his face that she had made her point.
You never know who someone is or who someone knows until you engage them in conversation and LISTEN to what they have to say. So next time you are around people, any people, take the time to get to know them. That meeting you write off as being boring could contain the next big referral, but you won’t know unless you are conscious.
“The secret of my success is a two word answer: Know people.” – Harvey S. Firestone
Tell us how you keep a boring meeting interesting!!
