SUMMARY
Long Meetings Are Unavoidable For Entrepreneurs
If you are an entrepreneur, long meetings are a given. They come as a package deal while training the team or liaising with clients.
Extended meetings can completely drain you out, especially when it is a daily affair. It becomes really taxing to maintain your single-mindedness in these meetings for a long time. You can deal with long meetings by making some important changes and keeping in mind the following tips.
Have Scheduled Breaks During Long Meetings
If the meeting is expected to last for more than an hour, schedule a break so that delegates can refresh themselves and keep their focus intact in the meeting. Nothing is more disturbing than people eating and murmuring during the meeting. Make sure you inform the attendees about the break and do not entertain such distractions in the meeting. Caterina Fake, cofounder of Flickr and Hunch.com makes sure that all the participants drink 16 ounces of water before the meeting starts. An interesting thing to know about her long meetings is that the meeting ends once someone goes to the washroom!
Try To Keep The Meeting Short Yet Informative
If the meeting is kept short, people would not feel sleepy and bored. Informative meetings are much better than perfunctory meetings. Focus on “good content” rather than “long duration” of the meeting.
Allow Informal Discussions
Let the participants ask each other questions and share their views with each other in small groups during the break time. This would help in better fulfillment of the agenda of the meeting.
Have Proper Sleep The Night Before Long Meetings
Do not make yourself anxious over the thought of a meeting. Sleep well for around 7-8 hours so that you feel fresh during the meeting the next day.
Never Attend A Long Meeting Hungry
Do not go to a meeting on an empty stomach as it would lead to dizziness and headache. Have enough food and water before the meeting. It is advisable to provide refreshments to the delegates during the session.
Jot Down Important Points
If you feel bored during the meeting, keep a diary and jot down the main highlights of the meeting in it. You would not feel bored by doing so.
Make Sure Your Mind Is Ready To Imbibe New Information During Long Meetings
Spread open the curtains of your mind so that all the necessary information gets imbibed in your brain. Never feel inferior when it comes to learning new stuff. Keep in mind that no one ever is too old to learn.
Interesting Presentations With Minimum Words
Make your presentations short and include more of diagrams and flowcharts rather than mundane paragraphs. An interesting background with animations, GIFs and attractive fonts can also keep the participants attentive throughout the meeting.
If you are tired of long meetings, these tips can help enhance the experience, leading to the profitability of your business. Few shorter meetings are always better than one long meeting where you have distracted people enough, waiting to get out of the cage. The aim of a meeting should be how to increase the profit of the business. It makes absolutely no sense in having a long meeting that does not serve the purpose.
[This post by Abhishek Shah first appeared on ThugStart and has been reproduced with permission.]
