AGENDA

Research Reveals Staff and Venue Can Make or Break a Meeting

Research conducted by Coleman Lee Finkel for his book The Total Immersion Learning Environment: Its Critical Impact on Meeting Success, revealed the vital role venue staff and the venue itself plays in a successful meeting.

The findings revealed that executives believe a knowledgeable, responsive staff, coupled with an appropriate venue, contributes a surprising 20 percent towards a meeting's success.

A recent article in The Meeting Professional revealed what meeting attendees and senior management want and expect out of a meeting.

Attendees believe meetings should:

• motivate and inspire;
• provide suggestions on resources and tools and offer practical, attainable solutions and ideas that can be implemented as soon as the meeting ends;
• be better paced. That is, they should start later and have shorter breaks. In addition, important information should be front-ended as opposed to leaving it until the end;
• incorporate more teaching and creative strategies to hold the attention of attendees;
• make use of speakers who have the ability to better captivate audiences.

As for senior management, they believe the following five objectives must be pursued:

• the meeting's message must be consistent;
• a clear sense of priorities must be made clear;
• the meeting must motivate and inspire;
• the meeting must build commitment;
• teamwork and trust must be encouraged.