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1. | How to Select a Meeting Facilitator
Meeting facilitation is a complex activity. Thus, you want to make sure that you engage someone who knows how to help you get results. Here's what to look for.
1) Is the person a professional facilitator?
...
[Added: 14 Jul 2006 Hits: 58 Words: 552]
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2. | Why Olivia Refuses to Attend Meetings
Olivia Felini is a wonderful cat. She will do almost anything, except go to meetings. Here's why.
1) No one asks her to participate.
Olivia always comes prepared to be part of the action. She wears her best ...
[Added: 14 Jul 2006 Hits: 57 Words: 347]
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3. | How Bad Can a Meeting Be?
There are the winning entries from a bad meeting contest (condensed and sanitized to protect the participants)
1) Short, Expensive, and Useless.
First, she sent a letter to a prospective client in New York, proposing a meeting. ...
[Added: 14 Jul 2006 Hits: 64 Words: 736]
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4. | More Than One Type of Goal Leads to Success
Most people set goals. But they often set only one type of goal, and in so doing they set themselves up for failure.
Here is the complete tool kit. Use it to create success.
1) Achievement goals - These describe results that you will have when you ...
[Added: 13 Jul 2006 Hits: 51 Words: 355]
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5. | The Secret to Effective Leadership
Treating people with respect wins trust and develops lasting relationships. Here's what to do.
1) Be on time. In fact, arrive early for appointments and meetings. Plan time milestones in your daily schedule that tell you when to begin transferring to an appointment. That is, note when you will ...
[Added: 13 Jul 2006 Hits: 55 Words: 353]
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6. | How to Survive in a Crazy World
Everything seems to go faster, leaving everyone feeling overworked, overloaded, and overwhelmed. Here's how to survive.
1) Know Your Purpose.
Know your vision, your goals, and your plans because these help you set priorities. Each day, identify the task ...
[Added: 13 Jul 2006 Hits: 56 Words: 366]
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7. | How to Impress Others When You Speak
Here are ten tips that will make your presentations memorable (for the right reasons).
1) Be the message. You must exemplify the principles, values, and ideas that you talk about in order to have credibility urging others to adopt them.
2) Think like the ...
[Added: 13 Jul 2006 Hits: 60 Words: 404]
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8. | Conquer Your Fear of Speaking
Reduce your fear of speaking by taking the following steps.
1) Conduct Research.
Visit or call key participants to ask them what they expect from your presentation. That is, what do they want to learn from it? What ...
[Added: 13 Jul 2006 Hits: 58 Words: 347]
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9. | 3 Ways to Ruin a Presentation (and What to Do Instead)
Memorable disasters don't just happen. They require a special blend of misunderstanding and misguided effort. Here are three ways to guarantee a disaster in your next presentation, and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Believe in Magic
...
[Added: 13 Jul 2006 Hits: 65 Words: 361]
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10. | Positive Communication Strategies
Positive, effective communication is the key to success in every part of your life. That includes at work, at play, and at home.
Use these six strategies to communicate effectively.
1) People judge others by their actions. This means ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 63 Words: 337]
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11. | How to Deal With Rejection
No one likes rejection. And yet it happens. Here's how to make the most of it.
> Accept It
Recognize that it is impossible for everyone to say "yes" to everything. Thus, rejection is an expected byproduct ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 56 Words: 457]
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12. | How Leaders Say "No"
We all wish we could say "yes" to everybody and everything. And yet sometimes we have to say "no."
Recognize that being able to say "no" with dignity is a primary communication skill.
Here's how to say "no" with class and respect.
...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 39 Words: 812]
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13. | How Effective Are Your Communication Skills
Use this check list to assess your communication skills.
Focus
* Do you pay complete attention to others when they are speaking? (A wandering focus discourages open communication.)
* Do you manage your thoughts during a conversation, focusing them on understanding what the other person is ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 44 Words: 444]
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14. | 6 Steps to Effective Communication
Effective leaders are known for being excellent communicators. Here's what to do.
1) Avoid "Not." Negative talk encourages arguments, counter attacks, and attempts to solve your problems. It also creates a negative impression. For example, when you say, "I can't," ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 79 Words: 404]
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15. | Voice Mail Tips
If you are like most business people, voice mail has both simplified and complicated your life. On the good side, it helps you exchange information. On the other side, leaving messages can seem like putting notes in bottles that drift off to ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 48 Words: 442]
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16. | How to Use Your Voice Mail
Your outgoing voice mail message tells a lot about you. In fact, it may be the first impression that you make with a new client. Here's how to appear successful.
1) Present a Positive Image
Your outgoing voice mail message should be simple, positive, and professional. State your ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 37 Words: 375]
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17. | 10 Attributes of Effective Meetings
Here are ten fundamental concepts that characterize an effective meeting.
Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.
A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterized by ...
[Added: 20 May 2005 Hits: 56 Words: 222]
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18. | What You Don't Want to Know About Bad Meetings
Bad meetings are a cultural illness that senior executives pass on to new employees.
Long pointless meetings are useful in that they keep incompetent people from interfering with those who are working.
An employee who needs permission to buy ...
[Added: 20 May 2005 Hits: 56 Words: 242]
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19. | Come Home Rich - How to Get the Most out of Your Next Conference
Success in your career depends upon how well you manage your professional development. A prime source of this development comes from being a member of a professional association that relates to your career. As a member, you ...
[Added: 20 May 2005 Hits: 44 Words: 930]
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20. | Unexpected Wisdom
If you have ever traveled across country by train, you know that meals are served with community seating. That means you can meet new people with every meal.
In late March I took the train home (to Southern California) from ...
[Added: 20 May 2005 Hits: 49 Words: 553]
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21. | How to Deal With Salespeople
If you're an executive, you may sometimes feel like a open jelly sandwich at a picnic. Every crazy critter in the world wants to bite into your budget. Here's how to protect your time and preserve your sanity.
Ask questions
...
[Added: 20 May 2005 Hits: 50 Words: 595]
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22. | How to Save Money on Training
1) Use a live instructor. Adults learn best by doing, practicing, and experiencing. Effective instructors customize their programs to meet people’s needs, provide counsel on individual challenges, and respond to questions. Videos, CDs, and E-learning are seldom effective ...
[Added: 20 May 2005 Hits: 37 Words: 307]
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23. | Why Training Fails
Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"
And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."
Then the person laughs. "My boss needs to attend your workshop more than anyone in ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 53 Words: 517]
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24. | Why Would Anyone Hold a Bad Meeting?
Pssst, want a stock tip that will make you rich? Okay, here it is: phone a public corporation and ask to speak with the CEO.
If a secretary tells you that the CEO expects to be busy in meetings for the next six hundred years, call your broker and ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 38 Words: 815]
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25. | Another Use for Meetings
Every meeting is a laboratory where you can observe and learn important things about the people who attend. In fact, you can use meetings to identify people who merit being promoted into leadership positions. Watch for:
Is it planned?
Effective leaders always begin with clearly defined goals ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 47 Words: 485]
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26. | How to Hold Effective Staff Meetings
Many people believe that they conduct effective meetings, when all they really do is host a party filled with official sounding chit chat. Or worse, they deliver a monologue that bores everyone. In either case, their meetings produce little.
...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 116 Words: 477]
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27. | Quick Quiz - Measure Your Meeting Mastery
Here’s an easy quiz to check the health of your meetings.
1) Who leads your meetings? -- a) No one, b) Whoever has the loudest voice, c) A facilitator
2) What happens to the ideas ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 42 Words: 366]
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28. | Why Would Anyone Do That in My Meeting?
Imagine that you open a meeting by saying, "We need to talk about the budget."
And someone says, "I named my dog Budget because he's too big."
After the laughter subsides, you wonder why anyone would make such ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 39 Words: 704]
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29. | How Leaders Create Trust
People buy from you, offer help, and grant rewards based on trust. Here are ways to increase your success by creating trust. While we do most of these things, missing even one of them can ruin it all.
Be Dependable
* Deliver what you promise ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 54 Words: 296]
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30. | Blueprint for Leadership - How to Be a Better Leader
If you were to build a house, you would begin with a blueprint. This blueprint proves useful because it contains more than directions on how to build a house. It also describes the finished house.
So, what ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 72 Words: 388]
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31. | Job Search Tips - How to Increase Your Success
Finding a job can be a painful and difficult experience. Here are three things that you can do to minimize the pain and increase your chances of success.
1) Approach finding a job as if it were a full-time job, because it is.
Consider this: if you had a ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 66 Words: 558]
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32. | Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have a Complete Agenda
Most agendas for a meeting look like this.
* Budget
* Payroll
* Staff
* Sales
* Vutszxtn
Some people would tell me, "That's a perfectly good agenda. I know what all of those things mean, except, uh, 'vutszxtn'." The point is, ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 54 Words: 251]
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33. | Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Begin With a Goal
Goals are critically important for the success of a meeting. You must know what you want so you can ask for it. And the participants need to know what you want so they can help you get it. Without goals, a meeting becomes a ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 57 Words: 305]
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34. | Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have SMART Goals
The first step in planning an agenda is to identify the goals for the meeting. Properly done, goals have five S M A R T characteristics. They are:
Specific. The goal must tell exactly what will be ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 46 Words: 259]
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35. | Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Earn a Profit
Most people treat meetings as a free resource that can be used to deal with any issue. As a result, huge amounts of time and money are wasted on trivia.
A meeting is a business activity (not a social event) and should be designed to ...
[Added: 10 May 2005 Hits: 52 Words: 277]
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36. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 1, General Strategies for Unproductive Behavior
It happens easily. You're conducting a meeting and suddenly a small side meeting starts. Then someone introduces an unrelated issue. Someone else ridicules the new issue. Everyone laughs, except the person who mentioned the idea. Then someone insults the person who told the joke. ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 53 Words: 602]
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37. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 2, Multiple Conversations
Side conversations ruin meetings by destroying focus and fragmenting participation.
Approach 1: Ask for cooperation
Start by asking everyone to cooperate. Look at the middle of the group (instead of at the talker) and say:
"Excuse me (pause to gain everyone's ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 38 Words: 320]
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38. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 3, Drifting From the Topic
Although new ideas lead to creative solutions, they can be a challenge when they interrupt or distract the work on an issue.
Approach 1: Question the relationship to topic
When new ideas seem inappropriate, say:
"That's an interesting point ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 48 Words: 307]
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39. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 4, Quiet Participants
There are many reasons why someone would decline to participate during a meeting. While some of these may be valid, others may warrant intervention in order to hold an effective meeting.
An effective meeting depends upon fair and equitable participation from everyone. Here's how to make it easier ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 36 Words: 232]
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40. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 5, Dominant Participants
While dominant participants contribute significantly to the success of a meeting, they can also overwhelm, intimidate, and exclude others. Thus, you want to control their energy without losing their support.
Approach 1: Ask others to contribute
Asking quiet participants to contribute indirectly moderates the more dominant ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 60 Words: 548]
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41. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 6, Deadlocked Discussions
Although a meeting is a vehicle for resolving differences, it can break down when the participants become mired in a disagreement.
Approach 1: Form a subcommittee
Ask for volunteers from the opposing viewpoints to form a subcommittee to resolve the issue. This is a useful approach, because: ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 41 Words: 263]
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42. | Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 7, Personal Attacks
Personal attacks hurt people, mar communication, and end creativity. If they become part of a meeting's culture, they drive the participants into making safe and perhaps useless contributions.
Approach 1: Speak to the group
Set the stage ...
[Added: 28 Apr 2005 Hits: 46 Words: 545]
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43. | What to Ask When You're Invited to a Meeting
Here are five questions that you must ask before agreeing to attend a meeting.
1) Where is the agenda? A meeting without an agenda is like a journey without a map; it will always waste your time. Once you have ...
[Added: 19 Apr 2005 Hits: 39 Words: 277]
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44. | Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 2, How to Hold a Teleconference
Even a well-planned teleconference can go poorly. Some people treat any meeting as a casual social activity instead of as a serious business project. And a teleconference brings special challenges because people attend them in the privacy of their office without being able to see or be seen ...
[Added: 11 Apr 2005 Hits: 37 Words: 683]
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45. | Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 1, How to Plan a Teleconference
Teleconferences can be a boon or a bust. On the positive side, they allow people at different locations to attend meetings without having to travel. On the negative side, they can degenerate into frustrating struggles with uncontrolled babble. This occurs because people lack visual contact, ...
[Added: 11 Apr 2005 Hits: 72 Words: 545]
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46. | Effective Meetings Begin With a Real Agenda
Everyone knows that an agenda is the key to an effective meeting. But an agenda that consists of a list of nouns, such as budget, software, and picnic, is useless. Here’s how to prepare a real agenda that puts you in control of the meeting.
1) Goal. Every real ...
[Added: 05 Apr 2005 Hits: 58 Words: 296]
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47. | Ten Tips for Effective Meetings
Here are ten things that you can do to hold more effective meetings.
1) Avoid meetings. Test the importance of a meeting by asking, "What happens without it?" If your answer is, "Nothing," then don't call the meeting.
2) Prepare goals. These are the results ...
[Added: 29 Mar 2005 Hits: 45 Words: 465]
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48. | 7 Myths That Make Meetings Miserable
Myth 1: Executives belong in meetings.
Although the demands of business cause executives to attend more meetings than other professionals, executives need to avoid meetings. Top management is responsible for vision, strategy, plans, and communication. That means executives should spend ...
[Added: 23 Mar 2005 Hits: 36 Words: 596]
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