Is your meeting dragging on?

The "XX Type Manufacturing Summit Forum" on December 22, 2017 came to an "unsatisfactory" end. This is the second part of the forum's review and reflection.

I don’t know if you have this experience. Meetings, trainings, communication meetings, etc. organized by yourself are always difficult to start as scheduled, let alone end as scheduled, which is a bit hurt. For example, the early "training projects" of our Shanxi HR Elite Club always started half an hour late. Later, the "66" classmates sorted out the process, gave warm reminders, and resolutely implemented it. The problem of trainees being late was basically solved, and the training started on time. . If we organize a "time management" training, some partners will be late, which is quite self-deprecating, but it is also in line with the theme of this sharing, and it is just a lively opening case.

The summit forum we organized on December 22 started 20 minutes late due to some reasons and was delayed for more than an hour. This is a problem, and it is a "disease" in people. To cure it, let’s not talk about what medicine to take. Just like the recent cold, we first need to find out what caused it, is it viral or bacterial?

First of all, let’s talk about why the summit forum started 20 minutes late. In fact, the main guests, including the director, professors, and association leaders, had arrived long ago. However, when the opening time of the conference was 9:00, there were only a few people sitting there. Less than half the people. It's obviously inappropriate to start like this. There are many partners outside checking in or on their way here. Why does this problem occur?

In my analysis, there are several reasons:

1. The people in the city where we hosted the conference are lazy. This is recognized. I won’t tell you which city. It is a city known as construction. A historic city that is an international metropolis.

2. I am habitually late because I am lazy. I don’t think it is a problem. There is no fine for being late anyway.

3. Many people who participate in the meeting are arranged by the company. Maybe many people still want to attend the meeting on behalf of the company, and they just happen to sleep in in the morning and go. What a painful guess! ! !

4. There is another hotel in the nearby area with a similar name to the hotel where the conference was held. As a result, some participants went to the wrong place and were on their way there, so they were late.

5. The meeting notice was sent out two days in advance, and many companies did not receive it. Therefore, there were few people attending the meeting at 9 o'clock in the morning, and the opening was awkward.

How to solve this problem? I think at least the following two points must be done:

1. The meeting notice should be sent out at least one week in advance. There should be enough companies or people to register for the meeting, so that the opening time of 9:00 will not lead to a small number of on-site participants.

2. Since you want to start the meeting on time at 9:00, you should consider everyone's psychology of being half an hour late in the meeting notice, and announce the opening at 8:45. Even if it is 15 minutes late, it will still be possible. Start at 9 o'clock.

Let’s talk about the issue of the summit forum being held for more than an hour. The forum is planned to last all morning, that is, from 9 to 12 o’clock. The “held meeting” for more than an hour means it will end after 13 o’clock. , it’s long past dinner time, and buffet coupons have been given to the participants when they signed in. After 12 o’clock, many people have not had breakfast and are already overly hungry. They will inevitably be driven by physiological needs and go to the restaurant early. Enjoy the buffet. So what is the reason for "drag the hall"?

My analysis has the following reasons:

1. The meeting agenda is unreasonably designed. There are only three hours of available space for the special speech/sharing. More than one, not including the host's dialogue, leadership speech, etc.

2. Regarding the previous question, the agenda setting is unreasonable. Didn’t you realize it before the meeting? I realized it, but as the forum decision-maker, I made "selective neglect". The formal agenda of the forum was actually slower than expected. The agenda is also missing two leadership speeches and a special topic sharing. If it goes as planned, it should continue to "pull the hall", which will end at 14 o'clock. If this is true, maybe only the guests will be waiting, but I was "swearing my mother" fiercely inside.

3. When setting the agenda, decision-makers have the idea of ??"adding first, then subtracting." It is actually unrealistic to subtract based on the specific situation on the day of the meeting, unless there is a forum speech. The guest had other arrangements at odd hours and was unable to attend the meeting. Otherwise, how could his part be removed? They are all big names, and it would be a waste if the personal time allocated to them did not exceed the time limit.

4. Some participants forgot or didn’t care about the 20-minute time limit set by the organizer when it came to the topic they were sharing. Anyway, I was sharing at the front, without taking care of the guests at the back, and rushed straight into it. Walk in an hour.

How to solve this problem? Think about at least the following efforts:

1. Consider the time arrangement from an overall perspective, fully consider the host's speaking time (more than 20 minutes), and the "normal attendance" of more than 50 guests. Just arrange enough sharing time in advance and expand it from 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

2. Strictly control the total number of shared topics, excluding leadership speeches, and compress them to less than 4. They should be high-quality and practical, such as two theoretical sharings and two benchmarking practices. 4 sharings, one of 30 minutes, that is 120 minutes, two hours, plus the host's words and the leader's speech, it is basically three hours.

3. How to give gentle reminders to guests who have exceeded 30 minutes? It is not recommended to have the host remind you at half time, and it is not recommended to compress the time of subsequent guests because individual guests have timed out. It is recommended to make a display board-type reminder sign. At the end opposite the conference stage, the staff will raise the sign to remind "5 minutes left", "sharing time is up", etc.

This is a review summary of the summit forum’s failure to start on time and delay in ending. This is true for everything. The main reason for the problem is that there is a problem with the key leading links in planning and execution. Doing a good review is the key to improving next time.