meeting after meeting - what to keep in mind

have you ever been in a meeting that seems to be going on forever and is going absolutely nowhere? probably so. i know i have. how about conference calls that feel like a conversation with yourself? hello! is anyone even listening? depending on the topic, the purpose of the meeting and all of the junk people have distracting them from sharing anything whatsoever, meetings/calls can be the death of any kind of creative process. it's almost like being a server at a restaurant...stay with me now...everyone should do it once in their life. after you've been a server, you develop a sensitivity to what may be going on with a night of bad service or a slow kitchen. you learn that sometimes it's just an off day. same thing applies to meetings or calls, once you lead them, you begin to understand how important it is to participate or acknowledge that you're even there. not everyone is going to be sending in a million dollar idea every second but once you've experienced the uncomfortable silence of a meeting/call, you recognize the value of paying attention and participating in the conversation. otherwise, you're leaving the fearless leader out there in a lonely abyss of uncertainty and frustration. typically, i repeat, typically, a meeting is called to bring together a group of people to exchange information and my all time favorite, share ideas. if you're not sending anything out there, then you have to ask yourself -- why am i here? tomorrow morning, i lead one of my favorite meetings with one of my favorite groups of people. i am committed to bringing a dynamic group of people together with the purpose of moving the profession of public relations forward in the central florida region. that motion comes in many different forms -- quality programs, membership benefits, professional development, accreditation, networking, opportunity, etc. not too long ago, i had lunch with PBJ who told me that every meeting should have a PAL -- a purpose, an agenda and a length. that was by far one of the best takeaways in terms of being clear about how quickly a meeting can go south if any of the PAL are missing. so, tomorrow morning, we collectively have a purpose and the agenda has been set and distributed to everyone. the length is typically an hour...as the "lead" of the meeting, i am very respectful of the time people give. i do what i can to keep the meeting at the agreed to length. so far, i've had great success with my commitment. it's event/meeting planning 101 -- end early and they'll always love that they were there. of course, if the creative juices are flowing, no need to bring it all to a halt because the time is ticking away. everyone is valuable and so is their time. i keep that in mind at all times. to bring this outpour to a close, i recall the days when i would have to attend meetings, to just attend meetings. there was no real value of getting together but for the sake of the same old people, listening to the same old things that they were saying. seriously, some people love the sound of their voice. this nonpurpose driven gathering usually leads to ineffective time and resources spent. so, all this to say, before you meet, be sure it's necessary. when you do meet, make sure you're clear about why, when and for how long. post-meeting, send everyone a little recap, a general thanks and if they contributed something that created a quality conversation, thank them for sharing. it's challenging to find good, creative ideas in that kind of environment. all the more reason to be grateful when you discover a diamond in the rough. alrighty, thanks for reading...i'm off to my next great meeting!