Digital PM Summit 2015: Become a Meeting Whisperer
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Project Managers live and die by meetings. We are in charge of controlling the pace and tone of the room. We have to be able to identify when a meeting is going off the rails, and know how to bring it back around. We've all experienced poorly organized meetings, but we have the power to change this. We have the power to stop the negative connotation that surrounds meetings. We do this, by understanding how to successfully run a meeting. Consider this topic bar rescue of meetings. It will bring about a lively discussion. As a group we'll walk through meeting nightmares. How could we have improved the situation? As a group we can break apart and role play meeting scenarios. We'll use helpful tips to bring a meeting back around. THIS SESSION WILL COVER: How to deal with the one man show When electronics should be allowed during a meeting Changing the tone of a meeting By the end of this session, each attendee should be able to walk away with a checklist on how to stop having meetings that suck. Each person should become a Meeting Whisperer.
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Digital PM Summit 2015: Become a Meeting Whisperer
- 2. I AM TERA SIMON I am here because I’m an OG Digital PM. You can find me at @tcaldsimon
- 3. ARE THEY A WASTE OF TIME? MEETINGS
- 4. THERE ARE 11 MILLION FORMAL MEETINGS PER DAY IN THE UNITED STATES* THAT’S MORE THAN 3 BILLION MEETINGS PER*Bureau of Labor Statistics
- 5. 37% Average time a professional spends in meetings* $12K - 18K Annual per employee** 15 hours a week That comes to 60 hours / month or 4.5 months / year *National Statistics Council **Assuming $50-$75K annual salary
- 6. THE TOP 10 BUSINESS MEETING COMPLAINTS Cell phone interruptions: 16% People who fall asleep in meetings: 9% Disorganized, rambling meetings: 27% People who check their phones or computers during meetings: 5% Meetings starting late: 4% People leaving early or arriving late: 5% Long meetings without refreshments: 6% Meetings with no bathroom breaks: 8% People who interrupt peers to dominate the meeting: 17% No written recap of the meeting outcomes: 4%
- 7. 5 SIGNS THAT A MEETING IS BECOMING A WASTE OF TIME EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK IS BEING DISCUSSED IT’S TAKING MORE THAN AN HOUR THE ATTENDEE LIST GOES ON & ON THERE’S A LONG POWERPOINT DECK INVOLVED IT’S A HABIT
- 8. Bad meetings start with the attitudes and approaches of the people who lead and take part in them. ◇Patrick Lencioni, Death by
- 9. MEETINGS HOW CAN WE WRANGLE AND IMPROVE THEM?
- 10. REASONS TO HAVE A MEETING SHARE INFORMATION OBTAIN INPUT HANDLE TOUGH PROBLEMS MAKE DECISIONS WARM MAGICAL HUMAN CONTACT STRATEGIC PLANNING
- 11. PROVIDE MEANINGFUL TITLES FOR MEETING APPOINTMENTS
- 12. NO AGENDA? NO MEETING. Create a firm agenda with a desired outcome and plan. Remember to be flexible, but have a set agenda for the meeting sets you up for success.
- 13. HAVE A SET MEETING TIME, EVERY TIME Build meetings into your project plan, and schedule them at the same day and time every week.
- 14. THINK LIKE A BOY SCOUT Always be prepared to handle possible technology and room issues. Take time to prep the room to help start the meeting on the right foot.
- 15. ASSIGN A NOTE TAKER If you are running the meeting, assign someone to take notes. At the end of the meeting, share out the meeting notes, so everyone is on the same page.
- 17. LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONES AT THE DOOR Cell phone use is not allowed during a meeting. Ask attendees to put their phones away. If there are a lot of laptops, ask everyone to identify how they will be using the laptop.
- 18. KEEP THE MEETING FOCUSED Control the pace of the meeting, and watch out for meeting hijackers— a person who takes advantage of having everyone in the room to interject his/her own agenda.
- 19. ONLY INVITE NECESSARY PEOPLE Those who don’t truly need to be there will only be a distraction. If someone is not being utilized, it’s OK to ask them to leave.
- 20. LEAVE WITH A PLAN
- 21. ANY QUESTIONS? You can find me at @tcaldsimon tcaldsimon@gmail.com
Editor's Notes
- Purpose: I have a feeling that Nancy may come up here and thump me in the head, but I’m going to focus on the negative first, so that we can see the positive side of meetings. We all have a nightmare story behind a meeting. Why do we have meetings? How do you control them? Tips to greatness
- Raise your hand if you LOVE meetings? It’s your favorite way to spend a day. I get giddy when I wake up in the morning, look at my calendar and think, hot damn I have a 10 minute break when I’m not actually in a meeting. When was the last time you walked out of a meeting thinking, "Wow. That meeting was incredible!" Most likely you've left feeling drained and with an action item of a follow up meeting. When I started thinking about this presentation, I really thought about why we have meetings and the purpose they can have. Do they always end up being a waste of time?
- I can’t speak for my Canadian or European friends, but I can point out a scary stat. in The US, there are 11 million formal meetings per day. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Table B-3, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm (accessed 4/18/15) oft survey, people globally spend an average of 5.6 hours a week in meetings. http://blog.socialcast.com/how-3-billion-meetings-per-year-waste-time-money-and-productivity-in-the-enterprise/
- Every day, there are 11 million formal meetings in the United States. That’s more than 3 billion meetings per year. By one estimate, this means that the average professional spends 37% of his or her workday in meetings. That’s a lot of time. As project managers, it is up to us to set up our meetings for success and make the best use of everyone’s time. When I think of someone who’s an expert in taming problems, I think of Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer. He’s a master of controlling wayward animals with a simple click of the tongue—a small gesture that makes a big difference. That in mind, it’s time for project managers like us to become meeting whisperers, taking the small but important steps needed to control wayward meetings.
- Microsoft decided to do research into what makes people complain about meetings. We each have our own complaint when it comes to meetings, and we all have a pet peeve. Who thinks they can guess some of the top 10 business meeting complaints? It's up to you, project manager, to not be the main culprit of bad behavior. If you've ever set up a meeting and did/thought any of these things, your meeting could be a waste of time: Who needs an agenda? I’ve got this. I don't need to explain why we're meeting. We’ll cover that in the meeting. I can squeeze another one hour meeting between my 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock. It's not like I need to prep the room. It's cool if people use their phones/laptops during the meeting. I know they're busy. This collaborative meeting is turning into a one-man show, but I can't interrupt him. That would be rude. Is this phone working? Why is nobody talking, and why are they all looking at me?
- EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK IS BEING DISCUSSED IF THE MEETING IS LONG AND UNFOCUSED OR THERE IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION BEING COVERED. IT’S TAKING MORE THAN AN HOUR MOST PEOPLE’S ATTENTION IS LOST AFTER 60 MINUTES THE ATTENDEE LIST GOES ON & ON IF THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IS EXTENSIVE, IT MIGHT MEAN THE MEETING IS TOO AMBITIOUS THERE’S A LARGE PPT DECK INVOLVED LARGE PPT DECKS LOSE THE ATTENTION OF PARTICIPANTS IT’S A HABIT IF A MEETING BECOMES TOO ROUTINE IT COULD MEAN THAT REGULAR MEETINGS ARE NOT NECESSARY
- Earlier we heard Nancy talk about how as a society we focus on the negative, not the positive.Negativity is contagious. If we walk into a meeting with a negative attitude it’s going to persist to the rest of the room. Stop doing that. Instead voice the positive. Stop. The energy you create is what persists.
- Earlier, we heard Rob talk to us about managing projects to the last responsible moment. He told us that projects don’t fail for technical or design reasons, they fail because of the people involved. The same concept applies to meetings. Your meeting shouldn't be unproductive or uninspiring. Scheduling a meeting shouldn't be taboo. It should be to the point, drive results and get things done. Here’s a helpful checklist to make this happen. What project manager doesn't like a checklist?
- SHARE INFORMATION IF INFORMATION MUST BE SHARED IN PERSON, FOCUS ON EXCEPTIONS, OR AREAS WHERE IMPROVEMENT IS NEEDED, OR TOPICS ON WHICH A DECISION IS REQUIRED. OBTAIN INPUT MAXIMIZE THE QUALITY OF FEEDBACK AND/OR IDEAS THROUGH FACE-TO-FACE HANDLE TOUGH PROBLEMS A PROBLEM HAS SURFACED THAT REQUIRES THE CREATIVE BRAINPOWER OF A GROUP TO SOLVE. STRATEGIC PLANNING PLANNING IS A HUGE PART OF ANY PROJECT. IT IS NECESSARY TO PULL A TEAM TOGETHER TO CREATE A STRATEGIC PLAN AND ADVANCE THE THINKING BEHIND RISKS AND REWARDS. MAKE DECISIONS THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON TO MEET IS TO MAKE A DECISION. THE MORE DIFFICULT THE DECISION, THE GREATER THE IMPORTANCE OF A WELL-RUN MEETING. WARM MAGICAL HUMAN CONTACT HUMAN INTERACTION IS NEEDED TO BUILD TRUST WITHIN THE TEAM.
- When creating a meeting request, provide a descriptive title. I think one of the biggest issues that I've seen and that we've run into with meetings is you get a meeting request scheduled for you. It doesn't have a good, descriptive title. You have no idea what the topics are going to be, and no idea who else is going to be in that meeting. One of the best things you can do is start off by including an agenda, so that you're sending out this calendar appointment. Most of us are using Gmail or Outlook. We have the ability to attach documents, or even just type in the actual agenda within the calendar appointment itself. That way you're prepping people for when they walk into the room and they should come in prepared, instead of walking in, staring at you glass eyed, and wondering why they're even there.
- 63% of typically meetings in America do not have prepared agendas.If you walk into your meeting and you don't have an agenda, your meeting will not be productive. Instead of getting things done, you just charged your client money to talk to your co-workers about their weekend plans. Create a firm agenda with a desired outcome and plan, then send it out with your meeting request. Remember to be flexible, but having a set agenda for the meeting sets you up for success.
- When you plan a project, you know there will be demos with the client. You also know that weekly check-ins lead to success. Plan for these meetings, and schedule them at the same day and time every week. This gets both your team and your client into a rhythm. It also guarantees your developers will always have their next release in mind and helps them avoid unexpected disruptions of their work. It is also important to know when this meeting isn’t necessary. Earlier, we mentioned how a meeting can become a waste of time if it becomes a habit. If your team has their plan together, don’t make them come into a room just because. Everyone will take you for giving them part of their day back.
- Follow the scout motto and always be prepared to handle possible technology and room issues. Give yourself enough time to set up the room, clean the whiteboard, and make sure you can start your meeting on time. If you are using a conference line, dial in early. If you need to walk through a presentation, have it on screen as people walk in. Set out copies of the agenda on the table. Taking time for these preparation tasks will help you start your meeting on the right foot.
- If you are running the meeting and doing most of the talking, then assign someone to help you take notes. If you are operating as the facilitator, then assign yourself as the note taker. Just make sure someone takes notes. Don’t be afraid to pause the conversation to let everyone know you're jotting down what they said. Repeat back key points. At the end of the meeting, share out your meeting notes so everyone is on the same page. This will help your team leave the meeting ready to work instead of feeling drained and unsure.
- According to a microsoft survey, people globally spend an average of 5.6 hours a week in meetings. It's up to you to control the pace and respect everyone's schedule. If you scheduled a meeting for 30 minutes, start wrapping it up at the 25 minute mark. Use your agenda to time-box the meeting and set an end time. Time-boxing will discourage the group from wanting to ramble. It will also reveal if a topic is too large to cover in one session. If a topic starts to run long, carve out time for a micro-meeting to stay on schedule. Default meeting to end on either the 25 or the 50. This give others time to prep and get to their next meeting.
- Messing with your cell phone during a meeting is disrespectful. We understand how busy everyone is, but the world will not end if you go for 30 minutes without a phone. At the start of the meeting, ask everyone to stay off their phones. If there are a lot of laptops, go around the room and ask everyone to identify how they will be using their laptop. If it's not being used to bring value to the meeting, ask them to close it. These measures sound strict, but they’re essential to keeping everyone focused in the meeting.
- If you called the meeting, you control the pace. We've all experienced the meeting hijacker—a person who takes advantage of having everyone in the room to interject his/her own agenda. This can rapidly eat up important time while distracting from the purpose of the meeting. If someone interrupts the agenda, it’s up to you to speak up. You can diplomatically interrupt to get the meeting back on track. Listen to his/her point, express appreciation and then suggest tabling that topic for another time. Engage with the group and be a facilitator.
- The biggest thing you have to think about when you're scheduling a meeting is each of us have an hourly rate attached to our head. If you end up having a meeting that gets called for an hour, and you have eight billable people sitting in a room, you're basically already spending 1,000-plus dollars of your client's budget, for what? For everyone to kind of stare at each other and try to figure out why they're in a room? That's why it's really important to make sure we're setting up why are you in this room. If someone doesn't need to be in that room, or they're not contributing anything, kick them out. It's okay. Feelings will not be hurt.
- What project manager doesn't love action items? The most successful meetings are those that end with actionable tasks and a clear understanding of what's expected. At the close of the meeting, recap what was discussed, address each person by name who has a takeaway, and get their confirmation that they understand what’s expected of them. After the meeting, send out a recap email. Don't forget to thank everyone for participating.
- Ultimately, we project managers are the ones responsible for the success of our meetings. We can prevent our meetings from being a waste of our colleagues’ and clients’ time. Becoming a meeting whisperer doesn’t mean being bossy or condescending; it’s simply about being respectful of everyone’s time. We all have our own style and rules to live by when it comes to meetings. Some of these techniques may not work for you, but they should give you new ideas on how to transform your meetings