I had to attend an out of town team meeting on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss our high priority projects. I spent Thursday and Friday last week and the time while I was in flight, preparing for this meeting. Not sure what to expect, I wanted to make sure I was prepared. Two other team members had to travel to attend this meeting. The total attendees were nine (that included the locals and the out of towners). The meeting was scheduled for two hours. We started reviewing the first set of projects and I noticed that the Director, VP and Senior Manager did most of the talking, they rarely requested our input. The majority of the time, upper management did most of the talking amongst themselves. At one point, the VP stated, that if we do not get to all the projects, we can conclude on a conference call. I thought to myself, this meeting should have been conducted via conference call to begin with. I did manage to say one sentence in regards to my projects. Wow, just think, I woke up at 4:00am to catch a flight to a city over 400 miles away to say one sentence. At least they briefly skimmed over my projects, they did not even discuss the projects of my other traveling colleagues.
On the positive side, we got a free lunch and I got some time away from the office. Also, since I was prepared, I was not nervous or tense, because I tried to anticipate all their questions before hand.
Tip of the day: It is better to be overprepared, for any major meeting. You will be more relaxed and at ease because you will be prepared for any questions that come your way.
Comments