MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convetion, Exhibition)

A survey respondent told me, “Meetings are my big timewaster. I have
literally spent entire days in meetings. I not only get nothing done at my
desk but also inherit additional work. I suppose if I could wish for one
thing it would fewer meetings. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?”

Yes! Let’s dream a little. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pass that says,
“Get Out of a Meeting Free”? Here are some ideas for making your meetings
more productive:

Consider the timing. If you’re someone with the ability to call a meeting
during a certain time, seriously consider the best time to hold it.
Corporate America has trained most people to be “morning people.” Our
natural energy cycles cause us to be “up” or have “prime” time first thing
in the morning. Unfortunately, many people insist on holding meetings at
that time. Some kinds of meetings are good during prime time, like those
involving brainstorming, problem solving, or strategic thinking. Routine
staff meetings, project updates, or information-only meetings should be held
during lulls in productivity. Similarly, a brainstorming session on Friday
afternoon at three o’clock will probably not yield the best results.

Establish a code of conduct for your department or organization. Without
a set of “rules” or “protocols” for holding meetings, people do their own
thing, creating unpredictability between different meetings. I just
facilitated a training session with a corporate division with 75 people.
Together, we created the following Code of Conduct, which will govern their
future meetings:

1. Meetings are only allowed 9-4 Monday through Thursday and 9-1 on Friday.

2. An agenda, along with any pre-work, is required 72 hours in advance of
the meeting, clearly outlining the objective of the meeting. If a purpose
can’t be defined, cancel the meeting. Outline the time requirement for each
item on the agenda and the responsible person.

3. If meeting is not within these guidelines, each attendee has ability to
question the meeting.

4. Be sensitive to time constraints and deadlines of other departments.
Match the importance and complexity of the issue to the length of the
meeting.

5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten
minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting
that begins at the top of the hour.

6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to
extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting.
Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the
previous group to leave if you have the conference room reserved.

7. Use the meeting for items requiring dialogue, decisions, or team building
only, not informational items.

8. If the meeting is canceled or the room has changed, the leader is
responsible for calling all attendees to notify them of the change. If you
can’t attend, you must notify the leader.

9. Put people in later time zones at the beginning of the agenda. Or if an
attendee’s presence is only required for small portion of the meeting, let
that person speak first, and then leave.

10. Ensure that all invitees really need to be there.

11. You may send a delegate in your place, if the person is capable of
making decisions and can sign off or take away an action item. Let the
leader know you’re sending someone.

12. Come prepared and read advance materials. Bring your own copies of any
documents. If you will not be adequately prepared, notify the leader.

13. If the leader or key decision maker no-shows, attendees may leave after
10 minutes.

14. Use a timekeeper (appointed by the leader) to keep the meeting on target
and follow the agenda. Don’t limit meaningful conversation.

15. Eliminate any discussion that involves only two people.

16. Appoint a scribe for the meeting. When something comes up that’s not on
the agenda, the scribe records it on an easel pad labeled “parking lot.” The
scribe also creates “one minute” minutes during the meeting (a list of who
is responsible for/what/by when).

17. Don’t stop meetings to bring latecomers up to date, except in the case
of emergency.

18. During the meeting, respond to emergency “911″ pages only. If you must
take a call, step out of the meeting room.

Get your group together and facilitate (or have someone else facilitate)
a discussion and create a similar code of conduct. Reportedly, these rules
have greatly reduced miscommunications and improved meeting productivity!

Lastly, try to reduce the time you spend in unimportant meetings. Can you
send an alternate? Can you call the meeting chair and ask to report first,
and then explain that you have another meeting on its heels and you need to
depart in a timely manner? Can someone tape record the meeting for you to
listen to in your car?

Here’s to the meeting revolution—where minutes aren’t taken and hours aren’t wasted!

Make it a productive day!

About The Author
Laura M. Stack, MBA, CSP, is “The Productivity Pro”

Okay, so you’ve figured out what kind of meeting is needed, you’ve planned well and you have all the right materials. How about the meeting itself? How can you be sure the meeting you’ve so carefully planned and prepared actually comes off as expected?

The checklist below can help you through the process.

- Begin on time, clearly stating the meeting objective and your intentions to stick to type, time, topic, agenda

- Obtain agreement on the agenda items and times for each item

- Agenda changes must be consistent with meeting objective, type, time limits

- Consider having a time keeper, rather than letting topics exceed time limits

- Use action language to assign responsibilities — What will be accomplished, who will accomplish it, time frames and deliverables (when and how to be accomplished)

- Appoint a scribe to document meeting results

- Have a “parking lot” for topics not on the agenda – at end of meeting – Review parking lot, decide resolution, assign follow-up, if appropriate

- Anyone who feels the process is not supporting the objectives of the meeting should speak up and share this observation

- Decide date and time for next meeting, if needed

- Debrief the meeting (should take less than 5 minutes). Ask questions like Was the meeting necessary? Did the meeting begin and end on time? Was the agenda adhered to? Were participants objective, and all viewpoints heard? Were outside interruptions avoided? Did all participants have an opportunity to contribute? Were digressions and repetitions avoided? Were win/win solutions achieved? Was feedback offered and accepted?

- End on time

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Whether you’ve been dating your partner for many months, or even if it’s your first date, the first meeting with his/her parents can be a nerve-racking and uncomfortable endeavor.
As the old dandruff commercial says, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.”

This rule of life is especially true when meeting the duo who thinks no one is good enough for their “baby”.

Don’t dress tacky

On the day of the meeting, carefully plan your wardrobe. Always pick attire that is comfortable for you, such as jeans and a sweater, but not so casual that it becomes inappropriate- like (for women) cleavage or a belly-button ring on display. For men, avoid low-hanging pants that definitely give parents the “punk” impression.

No trash talking

Secondly, make sure that your dialect and conversation project the well-rounded, intelligent person you are. In other words, no cussing like a sailor, or using so much slang that the parental figures can’t decipher what you’re trying to say. Save that kind of chatter for friends and when you are alone with your partner.

Keep your hands to yourself

The touchy feely-ness of a new relationship is cute, but it’s cuter behind closed doors. Clinging, making out, playful punches, etc., may be kosher in front of parents on down the road, but for the first meeting, it’s a definite no-no. Additionally, it may embarrass the heck out of your partner.

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Daily, we see all sort of special discounts or bonuses being offered. Whether it’s on the fast-growing web or at the grocery store’s frozen food section – we’re bombarded with some type of incentive to get us to try a new product or service.

I’m not 100% convinced this is an effective means of generating sales. Especially long-term sales. Here’s why

What type of people do you attract by dropping your price?
Price-shoppers looking for a discount?
Or future clients seeking quality?

They switch to your product or service to save $5 or $25then switch back to your competition when the sale is over.

But for the sake of this short article, let us assume that dropping prices is a good way to win customers.

How much should you drop it?

The best way to know is to test. You may find the results interesting.

Many studies have shown that anything beyond a $5 incentive has little effect on response. For example, let’s say a postcard campaign is receiving a 10% response rate with a $5 discount. Next run, you try a $25 or $50 discount, but only receive a 12% return. (Hard compensation for an extra $20-$45 profit loss.)

Why is this happening?

My experience is that certain people are moved by a discount (no matter what size). They simply like discounts.

While there are other types of customers who require other motivations to convince them to buy, in fact, discounts may well be a turn-off for them.

Either way, testing and finding out how much of a discount your product requires to significantly affect results can save you $10, $20, $100 on each sale.

Let’s try to save a little more

Here’s another method you can test that
has been proven to produce
the same results as offering a discount.

Expose your audience to your sales message repeatedly – whether it’s via a letter, postcard or a magazine advertorial. Continue until it is no longer proving profitable.

For example, let’s say an email auto-responder with a $5 discount is earning you a 5% response rate. Without the discount, you’re only earning 1%.

Now, try taking away the discount. Mail three to seven different versions of that email, one week apart. You may easily hit the 5%.

Now, emails are virtually free to distribute. But, depending on your medium, repeated exposure might cost more than simply offering a discount. For instance, direct mail might cost you $50-$100 per 100 mailed.

You don’t want to spend $200 to save $20?

Or do you?

This is where long-term tracking can become an extremely valuable asset to your business. Again, what kind of client responds to the $5 discount?

You may find that the price-shopper who likes discounts never purchases from you again. But the prospect that did not need a discount places steady orders for the next twelve months.

Let’s say you sell a $50 book on home remedies for cats and dogs. Plus you sell other pet products as backend. In this case, you lose $5 with the discount, and maybe another $25 paying for the mailing. The book cost you $20 to produce. So you’ve broken even.

But then that customer never buys from you again.

On the other hand, if you use repeated mailingsyou may lose $50 to $100 on that first order. But then that customer purchases cat food from you on a monthly basis. By the end of the year, you have grossed $3,000 from that one $100 sacrifice.

The point here: track the 12-month results. Not the immediate pay-off. You may very well be losing where you think you are gaining.

John’s Natural-Persuasion Ezine is delivered weekly. It shows you the secrets to generating rising sales through “natural-persuasion” marketing methods. Indirectly persuade your prospects to purchase without sales-hype or budget-draining branding.

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