Monday, July 16, 2007

Meeting Madness Part 1

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Monday Morning Motivators – July 16, 2007
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Espresso business tips are designed to "caffeinate" your mind while your java gets you going. Subscribing and Unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com

“Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.”
--John Kenneth Galbraith

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Table of Contents
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1. Managing Meetings Part I – Linda Fayerweather
2. Designing Attractive Ads - Rebecca Booth
3. Birds of a Feather Flock Together! - John Meyer
4. To Do this Week
5. Fine Print

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1. Managing Meetings Part I
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We’ve all had great meeting and maddening meeting experiences. Keeping meetings meaningful is always challenging and over the next few weeks we are going to build a structure so that you will be able to help your company have meetings that matter.
Part I
--Before the meeting: Participants need to be reminded of when and where the meeting will be along with the agenda and length of time the meeting will last. This can be handled by phone, email or snail mail depending on your audience.
--Start all meetings on time: Late participants are just that – late.
--Starting the meeting: Begin meetings and training events with a Lean technique called SPACER to help center the energy and set the tone:
Safety – Explain where exits, restrooms and other essentials are.
Purpose – Why are we here?
Agenda – Identify it or have it on the wall in BIG print.
Conduct – How do we behave?
Expectations – What are the outcomes we want?
Roles – Know your role – coach, facilitator, or participant.
SPACER needs to be completed in 5 minutes or less and allows a transition from life to the agenda.

Copyright 2007 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz


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2. Designing Attractive Ads
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Advertising really does work, but many times the reason why the phone doesn’t ring is because the ad itself didn’t attract attention. Remember, people scan before they read. Here are a few tips to get that reader to stop and linger on your ad:
• Make sure there is a lot of contrast in the ad: either a strong black background or lots of white space. Most other advertisers cram every single piece of information into their ads to get their money’s worth. What this does is to create a “grey” appearance to the ad. Designing an ad that has strong contrast will get you noticed every time.
• Limit the use of typefaces, two or three, max will do.
• Use photographs, as large as you possibly can.
• Remember, you’re job is to entice the prospect to call or to act. So keep the ad attractive, clutter free and make sure your phone number can be easily found.

Copyright 2007 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
www.marketingsolutioneers.com

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3. Birds of a Feather Flock Together
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People who participate in networking groups are above-average networkers. If you want to build a successful word-of-mouth based business, you need to surround yourself with like-minded people.

Copyright 2007 John R. Meyer
District Director, BNI Ohio
http://www.bni-ohio.com

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4. To Do This Week
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Volunteer to run a meeting.