How to make your meetings memorable
Make Meetings Memorable
Recently I read the book 'The Art of Gathering' by Priya Parker. It was the first book I've read in a long time that I felt was truly important.
Important because it questions and challenges almost every group social interaction we have. From Christmas lunch with the family to weddings, casual dinner parties and of course, meetings, conferences and workshops.
The point the author makes is that we pretty much just go through the motions; repeating agendas and traditions that have lost their significance or (worse) doing what people expect you to do.
Yawn.
Gathering with purpose is the difference between resenting half of your invitees and having a transformation experience together.
Baby showers with purpose (and men)
A powerful example from the book is the baby shower. Typically this involves a group of women playing games found on Pinterest. Because that's what you 'do'.
Apply a sprinkling of 'purpose' to the event and it transforms.
What if the event was created to welcome the parent(s)-to-be to the next phase of their lives and provide them advice, camaraderie and support of the 'village'? If so, why not invite men to also share their valuable experience and tips on child-rearing.
Suddenly the event is meaningful, fun and breeds much deeper connection and conversation during (and probably after) the event plus stops contributing to outdated gender norms that child-rearing is the domain of women.
(You can still include all the great advice in a cute Pin-worthy book).
Back to meetings...
Your weekly/fortnightly/monthly team meeting; why does it exist? To set the priorities for the week? To build connection between team members? To solve problems? Because you've always done it?
Vague meetings are the bane of most of our corporate existences. Hands up who regularly attends meetings that they don't need to be in?
Come up with one key objective (the purpose) of a meeting you regularly hold. Consider what your greatest need is for that gathering.
Use this as your guiding light to determine;
who should be there? (will they help you meet your purpose or detract from it?)
who shouldn't be there? (a difficult, but important, conversation may need to happen)
where should you meet? (if you're trying to build connection, does sitting around a table in a windowless room with a packed agenda really help you achieve that?)
what should be discussed? (be selective with your agenda, use this as a call to cull)
how often should you meet?
Start with your 'small' meetings to test some of these changes and then scale up from there. This thought process will require a little extra thought and preparation but is an investment well worth making if you want to make an impact and create change.
Meet with meaning and make your meetings memorable.
Want more? This interview with the author at one of my favourite gatherings, Creative Mornings, is well worth the watch (33:26).
[Short of time? Priya talks about how to find and use the purpose of your gathering around 23:30 - watch the 9 mins from there to the end if nothing else]
"Start with your need and communicate it to other people, and then exclude people in your life who are not going to help you with that need in that specific moment."
Priya Parker
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