What is a meeting?

Let’s take a check here.

A meeting is where 2 or more people come together on a formally-agreed diarised basis.

A meeting involves a genuine dialogue where all parties have the opportunity to contribute.

Why do we have meetings?

We have meetings to move events forward in an effective and measurable way.

Meetings are intended to make a difference. This is their sole purpose.

Meetings that can’t or won’t or don’t move things forward, and make no tangible difference, are a waste of time. In fact they often create more problems than they solve, because their very existence supposes a cultural value that says useless meetings are okay to have.

Exercise 3:

Let’s look at who you meet.

How many of the people who attend your meetings are genuinely interested in making a difference?

• Most

• Some

• Few

Write this down, as in, say: Only some of the people I meet with are interested in making a difference.

This is important to know for a couple of reasons.

Like the previous questions, it gives you a clear picture of where you are today.

And secondly, as time goes by and the quality of your meetings is driven up, you’ll see how more and more people become interested in making a difference, because success is infectious.

> Examples of business meetings