At The Media Kitchen, we firmly believe in making the best use of our time, our colleagues' time, and most importantly - our clients' time. We've put together our "meeting rules" in this short, to-the-point presentation. For the record, it's a very quick read.

1. A Better Way To
Managing Meeting

2. • How many times have you arrived at a meeting and no one was there?
• How many times have you waited 20 minutes for the meeting to start?
• How many times have you attended a meeting that didn’t have a
leader or a clear agenda?
• How many times have you attended a meeting that didn’t end with
clear action items?
• How many times did the meeting go over the end-time?
• How many times have you attended a meeting that didn’t accomplish
a single thing?
2

3. These types of meetings are colossal
wastes of time and should not be
tolerated by anyone.
Ever.
3

4. Ways To Quickly Derail A Meeting
• Start and end times are not respected.
• Attendees do not show up.
• Locations mysteriously change.
• Frequent use of words like shoulda, woulda, coulda, kinda.
• One person is allowed to hijack the meeting.
• Verbosity.
4

5. Your Expectations
• You have every right to expect a meeting to begin on time.
• There should always be one person tasked with leading the meeting.
• You should understand the meeting’s intent ahead of time and what’s
expected of you as a participant.
• End-times should be respected.
• Action items should be clearly delegated.
5

6. Components To Every Meeting
1. The ʻMeeting Inviteʼ
2. The Agenda
3. Action items
6

7. 1. The ʻMeeting Inviteʼ
• The meeting ‘starts’ when you’re invited.
• The meeting leader is identified.
- As a meeting leader may not issue the invite, the leader should always be stated.
• The purpose of the meeting is declared.
- The agenda does not have to be detailed but the reason why the meeting
must occur is stated.
• Start and end times are clearly listed as is the location.
- Remember to include travel time, even between floors.
• Attendees are visible.
7

8. 2. The Agenda
• The meeting is called to order at the start time by the meeting leader.
• The end time is acknowledged.
• The agenda is stated.
- Handouts are helpful.
• Time is allotted for each agenda item.
• All attendees have responsibility for keeping the meeting on track.
8

9. 3. Delegating Action Items
• At the conclusion of the meeting, before the end-time, the meeting
discussion is summarized and action items are delegated.
• Responsibility for each action time is clearly assigned and completion
date/times are agreed.
• A secretary is designated so the meeting summary and action items
can be circulated in writing directly following the meeting.
9

10. Other Helpful Hints
• Before you call a meeting, make sure you need a meeting to resolve
the objective. Sometimes a phone call will do nicely.
• Be very clear in the subject header
- State the client’s name and give the meeting a descriptive title
• When you schedule a client call, it’s often helpful to book the room for
an extra 15 minutes. If you do that and the meeting ends earlier than
expected, make sure you call reception and release the room.
• Make sure you plan time in advance of the meeting start time to
prepare meeting materials.
• If the meeting attendance has to be kept small, consider arranging a
dial-in number so more people can listen in, but not participate.
10

11. Thank you
Any questions?
Please contact:
Barry Lowenthal
blowenthal@mediakitchen.tv 212.337.4702