Priority Management Training: Working Sm@rt in Meetings

Get your meetings on time, on track, on purpose.

Learn not only how to plan, organize and run a successful meeting but also how to get the most out of the meetings you are required to attend. Immediate benefits are: a 'business planning' approach to meetings, increased meeting effectiveness, saving time, improved meeting outcomes.

This course will help you:

Apply a proven planning process to meetings
Design an effective agenda to increase accountability
Run a meeting with a Bias for Action
Know precisely how to prepare to attend a meeting
Know how to keep a meeting on track
Avoid the common pitfalls that create 'meeting maddeners'
Use a quick yet effective process for evaluating meetings

Next Steps:

Talk to a local training expert near you to review your specific requirements.

Who should Attend:

Workgroups and teams; including managers, technical and sales professionals, supervisors, administrators and project leaders who currently conduct or attend meetings.

Format:

Half-day instructor-led session
4-hour web-based virtual classroom sessions

Tools Provided:

Comprehensive Learning Guide
Electronic Meeting Tools

Related Training:

Working Sm@rt at Autodesk

Background

"It's clear the world is changing, and the way we do our work is changing."

This is the statement that Carl Bass used to kick off the General Session at Autodesk University 2009, noting design engineers are facing tremendous global competition and pressure to work more efficiently.

Shortly after being named President and CEO of Autodesk, Carl Bass, previously COO, recognized that a significant amount of time was being eaten up in meetings. This situation was costing valuable time and effort that didn't provide return on investment. Mr Bass directed that meetings be improved immediately.

Challenge to Priority Management

Autodesk was a client of Priority Management; using both Priority Manager, the paper based system and Working Sm@rt With Microsoft Outlook. They liked Priority's process and method for meetings used in Priority Manager, but wanted a more in-depth course. They challenged Priority to improve meetings training that had been part of Priority Manager for 30 years. They wanted their meetings to:

Be effective and well planned
provide value for time invested
have accountable results

Priority Management Solution

Priority Management had a strong working relationship with Autodesk and saw the potential. They researched and analysed the components of effective meetings, applying Autodesk's slogan, "See why design matters". A well designed meeting produces the desired result. Priority took their proven process, refined and developed it, to create Working Sm@rt in Meetings.

Priority Management worked with Autodesk in Alpha and Beta testing, resulting in more than 600 Autodesk managers being trained in New Hampshire, Chicago, and San Rafael.

Autodesk training participant comments:

"Working Sm@rt in Meetings was presented in a very logical way that was applicable to making immediate and effective changes in my meeting planning."

"This can even be applicable for customer meetings. I'll definitely send out agendas before meetings from now on."

"This should be a required class of all employees, so we can ALL begin to work smarter."

The Working Sm@rt® in Meetings Detailed Synopsis

The Priority's Working Sm@rt® in Meetings course is a powerful hands-on session designed to give participants a practical process to get better results and higher satisfaction from meetings. It combines information from the latest meetings research with ample opportunity for participant exercises and sharing of ideas. Structured activities and examples give participants a chance to practice new behaviors as they learn.

This course is most effective for executives, managers, team and project leaders, and anyone whose calendar requires that they attend many meetings and want to be a part of improving organizational effectiveness. It not only addresses how to plan, organize and run a successful meeting but also how to get the most out of the meetings you are required to attend.

Introduction:

In this unit we will discuss the Meeting Maddeners, the challenges and solutions that can be put in place to ensure the organisation is Meeting Sm@rt.

Unit 1 The Four Phases for Meeting Sm@rt:

In this first unit we will look at the four fundamental phases of any meeting which leads to the highest ROI possible.

Unit 2 Pre-meeting requirements:

You will gain an appreciation of what it takes to prepare effectively for any meeting, whether as the chairperson or as a participant.

Unit 3 Constructing the Agenda:

Priority Management will show you the four key areas to address when constructing an agenda that ensures the meeting will be on time, on track, and on purpose.

Unit 4 During the Meeting:

Priority Management will show you how to master the execution of your now well planned meeting. Meetings will become an effective two-way communication vehicle that ensures alignment and a bias for action.

Unit 5 After the Meeting:

You will learn the best way to ensure that the meeting outcomes become activity inputs for participants of the meeting as well as how to ensure effective follow-up.