DISQUS

Chris Brogan: Be Effective in Meetings and Use Social Media Tools

  • thom singer · 1 year ago
    I used to work for a boss whose meetings would drone on forever. He was a bossy boss, and always wanted to be the center of attention. Every meeting was his own personal brainstorming meeting. A "quick" meeting could go 2.5 hours.

    We made a rule that nobody could call a meeting without sending a written agenda of what would be covered. The agenda had to come out one hour before the meeting so all could be prepared.

    He resisted this at first, but the results were great, so then he acted as if he came up with the idea!

    The agenda was there to keep the meeting focused and the person who called the meeting on task. It also allowed any topic that popped up to be tabled if appropriate.
  • Andrew Wright · 1 year ago
    Sometimes meetings are required to make a decision based upon available criteria and alternatives (assuming this is a more collaborative enterprise). These often don't go so well, as it's difficult to structure the conversation and make sure everyone's evaluating the same things. This type of meeting can be the most difficult to make productive.
  • Andrew Wright · 1 year ago
    Full Disclosure: I'm working on something on the side w/ a client...a Web app that will facilitate collaborative decision-making meetings over the Web.
  • paisano · 1 year ago
    Good information and topic. I would like to add my two cents though. It's been my experience that most of the corporate environments that I've been involved with are extremely resistant when it comes to using any "outside" website or service.
    There is this fear and concern from the executive level about potential security breeches or loss of intellectual property because we would in essense be "sharing" our data with an external resource. No matter how much time we (IT) invest to calm these fears and try to assure them that web 2.0 is not the devil, they remain skeptical to new ideas and services.

    So, I am left with trying to make magic with Microsoft SharePoint server 2007. Imagine the dwarf Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold.

    Well, believe it or not, there are some excellent social media-like tools and features available in SharePoint 2007 that can make meetings much more productive even long after the meetings.

    There's a new feature called Meeting Workspace that allows anyone in SharePoint to create an instant portal for an scheduled meeting. There are several templates to choose from depending on the type of meeting you are conducting. The most popular is the Decision Meeting Workspace that includes sections to share links to documents related to the meeting, Tasks and assignments made in the meeting, and a spot to record any decisions made in the meeting, sort of like taking minutes.

    If Microsoft continues to enhance the social media/networking features of SharePoint, then they can really go far with it. It has already become a cottage industry for specialists who do nothing else but SharePoint installation, design and customization. I installed the six month trial myself because I'm crazy that way. :)

    Sidenote: Microsoft is clever because they are linking other services to SharePoint such as their Project Server which uses SharePoint (Both use SQL server, cough...mo' money, mo' money).

    The future? Microsoft's OfficeLive Workspace (sound familiar?) http://workspace.officelive.com
    is nothing more than a web version of SharePoint's document library module. I can see them offering a full-blown www.MySharePoint.com social network somewhere down the road with web version of all office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint (RentAnApp) that we subscribe to on a monthly or annual basis.

    Pai
  • IAAdmin · 1 year ago
    LOL.........I love your "Tips for all Meetings." You hit the nail on the head. Thanks for the smile.
  • Andrew Wright · 1 year ago
    Sharepoint is definitely feature-rich, but a total pain in the ass to set up and use. I'm forced to use it with a client and it's just not intuitive...hence, I presume, the need for specialists that do nothing but install and customize it. This decision app in Sharepoint may help capture decisions, but it doesn't help teams make good decisions.
  • Chamika · 1 year ago
    I also work in an environment that is resistant to using tools outside the firewall, however to spark discussion at brainstorming meetings, I started a del.icio.us social bookmarking page that lists topics relevant to the working group's mandate. Other members can contribute as well, it helps keep the group informed about our topic.
  • Jamison · 1 year ago
    Great advice Chris. Thanks for this.
  • Jenn · 1 year ago
    Excellent run down of how to facilitate various meetings. I particularly like the point about not allowing people to talk when they should be listening. People need to do their prep ahead of time instead of wasting everyone's time in the meeting!
  • Graeme Watson · 1 year ago
    A well timed post Chris,

    Only two more days of my summner holdiay to go before it's back to work for another year.

    I begin every year trying to reset our meetings back to 15 minutes and 30 minutes, we always seem to get stuck in a mind set that every meeting is an hour long and some people will fill in the space. I think an egg timer would be a great tool in some meetings.

    Good luck for the year ahead in your new endevours.
  • Josh · 1 year ago
    Thanks for the great advice, Chris. I think the pre-planning meetings with goals and end-points is the most important. Having nebulous brainstorming sessions is fun every once in a while, but taxing when you need to get actual work done.
  • Whitney Hoffman · 1 year ago
    In organizing many podcamps, we have weekly conference call meetings. They are often status meeting, assigning To-Do's and brain storming all in one. As a result, I have gone to the default old fashioned solution - The Agenda.

    A day or two before the meeting, everyone gets agenda for the call by email- they can add things if they want, but at the meeting, we scroll through the topics, hit each one, and take any needed discussion to other channels. Meetings can get sidetracked, and aren't perfect, but the Agenda sets a purpose and goals ahead of time, and helps keep things running smoothly.
  • Keren Dagan · 1 year ago
    Good ideas. I plan to try few. If I may suggest using http://www.netvibes.com/ as a dashboard can help make meeting notes visual.
    I wrote about it in my blog: http://usingit.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/how-to-...

    Twitter could be a great way to avoid interruption during meetings - just type 140 characters of "what are you thinking now?"
  • jen_chan, writer SureFireWealt · 1 year ago
    I think it's important to include announcement and status meetings in a company's routine. That way, people are constantly updated on what is happening inside or outside the company that may affect it. And I also agree that meetings should always start on time.
  • Robert S Last · 1 year ago
    Your content is good, but you diminish its impact with the studpid pictures and your failed attempts at humor and scarcasim. Your content is serious, but I have difficulty taking you seriously as a SME.
    You also make to much out of your subject. Many of us work 60 hour weeks and work in complex organizations and your ideas are very simplistic and assume that we have more time in our day then we actually do.
    I give you a C+ on the series.
  • Biofuelsimon · 1 year ago
    One more suggestion. Hold the meeting standing up. The more uncomfortable people become the more they want to get out of the meeting, the more likey you are to reach a decision. The UK Privy Council meets standing up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council