MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convetion, Exhibition)

Meetings are out of control. They’ve been that way since my first job out of college when someone gave me a book called How to Make Meetings Work. When I could control it, I stuck to the following rules to ensure the meetings were effective.

Have a good reason for the meeting

Sounds obvious, but often overlooked especially where recurring meetings are concerned. Recurring meetings are taken for granted and no one bothers to revisit if there is a need to continue the meetings or to simply cancel a meeting when there is no need for it.

Franklin Roosevelt started many programs to help America recover from the depression. Some of those programs still existed many years after the fact when they’re no longer needed or fit the current economic environment. Some programs didn’t get cut until the 1980s through today.

Limit attendees

This good general management common sense. The more people you have, the longer it takes to come to a consensus on the action items, problems, and solutions.

For several years, I worked on a management team and it worked well as attendance was limited to specific managers. Then, two other groups joined our organization and we almost doubled our meeting participants. We fought to limit attendance for this specific meeting and lost. We didn’t accomplish as much as the smaller team and it took longer to get results.

I’ve seen managers and team leads attend every meeting there is known to the department even if one of their direct reports already attends. Delegate and trust. Let the direct report attend the meeting and report back. Use the freed up time for something else. It’s not a crime for a manager to attend less than 40 hours of meetings per week.

Imagine what would’ve happened to the Declaration of Independence had more than five people had sat on the committee? A committee of five drafted it with Thomas Jefferson doing most of the writing and presented to Continental Congress for approval.

Create an agenda and stick to it

Even if you have an impromptu meeting, quickly jot down the agenda so you can stay on track. It doesn’t have to be fancy or formal. Just list what you’re going to talk about and if possible, list how much time is available for each topic.

When a discussion gets lengthy, do what it takes to put an end to it otherwise the meeting runs over or the people who have the conference room reserved kick you out and your last agenda items get sacrificed. Typically lengthy discussions impact only some of the attendees. So agree to take the discussion offline (outside of the meeting). Make it an action item for them to meet and report the final decision.

Steer irrelevant discussions back on track

Enforce the previous rule and stick to the agenda. As a compromise, table the discussion for after all of the agenda items are covered. Make the last agenda item a free for all so attendees aren’t tempted to break the rhythm of the meeting with something not on the agenda.

Let’s get those meetings back in control and reclaim the extra time for other work.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl’s notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesn’t wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.

Life can take an adverse turn at any moment. We can’t be certain about our future responsibilities and obligations. In an hour of need, we look for various options to raise money. Many new ways have been evolved to raise money, but as a human being, we tend to rely on the most favoured options. A secured loan provides easier and olden way to acquire loan.

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A secured loan can also be acquired by the people having bad credit history due to arrears, County Court Judgements, defaults and bankruptcy. Such people have to pay high interest rate and will get shorter repayment period as per their current credit ratings. A secured loan can be used to improve bad or poor credit ratings by paying some of the previous debts.

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About The Author
The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting Finance-Hub as a finance specialist.

For more information please visit: http://www.finance-hub.co.uk

Biodiesel production, distribution, and use, as with many emerging alternative energies, has been aided in large part by recent government incentives making biodiesel fuel production and distribution more attractive. These tax incentives put money back in the pockets of biodiesel producers who, presumably, pass the benefits on to you, the consumer, with lower biodiesel prices.

Not just any biodiesel is eligible for tax incentives. The definition of biodiesel fuel, as it’s used for tax purposes, is “monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids”. Biodiesel production companies seeking any of these credits must ensure that they are making biodiesel fuel that meets the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements for registration of fuels and fuel additives as described in the Clean Air Act, as well as requirements put forth by the American Society of Testing and Materials.

All companies, whether a biodiesel production company or not, that are selling or using biodiesel may qualify for the Biodiesel and Ethanol (VEETC) Tax Credit, on their income taxes. There are two such types of credit.

the Straight Biodiesel Credit (considered a “general business credit” by the IRS) – the biodiesel in question must not have been mixed with any petroleum-based diesel fuel, and the company itself must be the biodiesel production company making it;

the Biodiesel Mixture Credit – the biodiesel in question must contain only biodiesel fuel and petroleum-based diesel, with absolutely no kerosene added, and the company itself must be the biodiesel production company making it.

Additionally, for either tax credit on biodiesel cost, one of the following criteria must also be met; the biodiesel production company actually uses the biodiesel itself as a fuel; the biodiesel production company sells the biodiesel retail which is then used in the fuel tank of the buyer.

The tax credits on Straight Biodiesel are equal to $1 per gallon of agri-biodiesel and $0.50 per gallon of waste grease biodiesel. The tax credits on Biodiesel Mixtures are $0.01 (a penny) per percentage point of agri-biodiesel and $0.005 (half-a-cent) per percentage point of waste grease biodiesel.

That is, unless the amount of credit approved to taxpaying biodiesel companies applying for the credit in a given year exceeds the annual cap of $1.5 million, in which case the Department of Revenue will prorate credits to biodiesel production companies accordingly.

These tax credits, however, are currently temporary, and set to expire in 2008 – an added incentive to get started now on that biodiesel production company of your own that you’ve been dreaming about. There’s literally no time to waste.

Another Federal Tax Credit, the Small Agri-Biodiesel Producer Credit (Section 1345: Energy Policy Act of 2005), grants $0.10 per gallon on up to 15 million gallons to small agri-biodiesel production facilities producing less than 60 million gallons per year.

Incidentally, there are local and state tax credits all over the country available on biodiesel cost and costs on other alternative fuels. Visit: www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/laws/incen_laws.html to find out what your locality offers.

According to recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study, demand for biodiesel production is set to increase by at least 124 million gallons per year, however fears about the rapidly rising prices of crude oil suggest that facilities might be making biodiesel fuel in even larger amounts and at an even faster rate.

Biodisel is clean, renewable, cheap and popular. The best part is that it’s very easy to make it at home. Visit our biodiesel making section for how to information.

It’s true.

Ducks hold meetings in the park. And these quacky meetings have remarkable similarities to business meetings (held in conference rooms, for example).

Here’s what they do.

1) No one pays attention to anyone.

Every duck is looking in a different direction. Most don’t even appear to be part of the meeting. And none of them are watching the duck who is quacking. But they are all there because ducks have to know about everything that is happening in the park.

2) Ducks deliver lengthy monologues.

Expect to hear: “Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack.”

Sure, this may last only half a minute but that’s a long time for a duck with an attention span of five seconds. It’s useful, however, because during this monologue the other ducks forget what they were going to say. So they begin quacking about something else.

It sounds like:

“Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack.”

“Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack.”

“Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack.”

Certainly, this is a pointless discussion.

3) More than one duck quacks at the same time.

Research on duck social dynamics has shown that this occurs because a) none of the ducks pay attention to the quacker, b) none of the ducks care about what the quacker is quacking, and c) none of the ducks have manners.

4) The meeting seems to lack organization.

This may take some careful study because of the similarities to meetings held by people. Nevertheless, it’s true. The ducks started this meeting without a goal or an an agenda. As a result, ducks never know when a meeting has ended.

5) Ducks come and go throughout the meeting.

Since nothing is being accomplished, it doesn’t matter when you arrive or leave. Some ducks simply walk through a meeting while offering a few thoughtful quacks.

6) No one seems to be in control.

Without a goal or an agenda, any duck can run the meeting. And they do. Sometimes the duck who started the meeting has left to attend another meeting. But the rest of the ducks remain, quacking away.

7) There are no minutes.

Here the ducks show unexpected wisdom. Since they accomplish nothing, there is no reason to write about it.

Second News Flash. People can hold more effective meetings than ducks. Visit my web site to find out how.

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Steve Kaye helps leaders hold effective meetings. He is an IAF Certified
Professional Facilitator, author, and speaker. His meeting facilitation and
leadership workshops create success for everyone. Call 714-528-1300 for
details. Visit http://www.stevekaye.com for a free report.