Introduction To NLP

On the subject of effective meeting planning and scheduling, the main thing to keep in mind is actually the planning itself. If you don’t plan it well, it won’t go well. This actually means that… You really shouldn’t over plan it, either. Rather, have an idea in mind, and then just get the meeting over and done with. If you try to plan out every single minute of the meeting, you won’t accomplish much, as breakthroughs don’t happen on a restrictive time frame.

So plan your meetings around just one or two goals or subjects, know what points you’re hoping to make during the meeting, and just leave it at that. Don’t write an itinerary, don’t try to solve each and every problem the company has all at the same time, just keep a clear head on what you need to get done and let the meeting develop at its own pace. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you plan your next meeting.

You Shouldn’t Get Too Ambitious

Again, you won’t solve every problem in the company in a single meeting. Plan to keep your meeting focused on just one subject and keep it focused on that subject. Don’t think you’re going to make your own name on the Fortune 500 after a single meeting. If you get too ambitious, the only thing you’ll succeed is in frustrating your employees and confusing them. You won’t really accomplish anything because unless you’re focused, you can’t accomplish much, so set your sights realistically.

Stay Focused

Set one goal, let your people know what that goal is, and achieve it during the meeting. Just one goal. If you give them a dozen things to do, they won’t know where to start, so give them just one goal and they’ll march right towards it over the course of the meeting. Again, it’s all about focus and simplicity. When we over-complicate everything, it tends to show a lack of confidence, as if more planning will make up for a lack of skill or competency. To a true master, everything is made simple.

Hold The Meeting Sometime Around Noon

This is the best time to hold a meeting, as your people are all woken up. After lunch, they just want to go home. Before their morning coffee, they wish they were still sleeping. Hold the meeting around midday when your people are actually in the mood to help you out and provide a few ideas of their own! Remember, these are people, not robots, and catching them when they’re in just the right mood is actually a major component of leadership.

Before you start an event or corporate meeting, go to The Meeting Planner’s site to see if an experienced corporate meeting planner or any Professional event planning services. can help!

When considering successful or effective executive meeting planning, what it really comes down to is planning, but planning loose. If you’ve thought to allot exactly X number of minutes to this subject, and X amount of minutes to that subject, you’re not actually going to get anywhere with the discussion, since you may be just seconds away from a breakthrough only to have to stop discussing it because you’re out of time. Breakthroughs aren’t made on a restrictive time frame.

So plan your meetings around just one or two goals or subjects, know what points you’re hoping to make during the meeting, and just leave it at that. Don’t write an itinerary, don’t try to solve each and every problem the company has all at the same time, just keep a clear head on what you need to get done and let the meeting develop at its own pace. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you plan your next meeting.

Do Not Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Are you really going to solve every single problem your company has in a single meeting? Of course not. Keep a meeting focused on ONE subject, not several. MAYBE two subjects, but only move on to the second after you’ve resolved the first. You need to make major decisions at these meetings, and the fewer the better, since you want the best decisions, not rush jobs. Know what you’re going to do and say at the meeting, and do it, don’t go nuts with it or you’ll be in the conference room for the rest of the week.

Stay Focused

In case you can’t tell, we’re kind of working with a theme here: focus, focus, focus. Keep your meeting focused on a single thing. Be it the budget or a new product design or your new catalog, keep it focused on one subject and try not to stray too far from it. Make sure everyone knows what the meeting is about going in so that they can bring their own ideas to the table.

Meet Around Noon

Or whenever the mid-day is for your organization. You don’t want to do it in the morning or else you have a lot of grumpy people who really don’t want to be here. After lunch, everyone gets slow and sluggish having just had big meals. Around the mid-day is when your people have had their coffee, they’ve woken up, and they’re ready to actually provide their own thoughts while at the same time listening during the meeting, as opposed to just zoning out looking forward to their first cup of joe.

Before you start an event or corporate meeting, go to The Meeting Planner’s site to see if an experienced corporate meeting planner or any Professional event planning services. can help!