In-House Seminars / Meeting Management for Lawyers


SO MANY MEETINGS, SO LITTLE TIME:
Making Meetings Shorter, Better Organized, and More Productive

Description

Meetings are a fact of life in the workplace today.  Unfortunately, too many meetings in too many organizations are inefficient and ineffective.  The concepts, techniques, strategies, and suggestions in this fast-paced program will help you plan and participate in meetings that are shorter, better organized, and more productive.  Each presentation of this program is customized to address your organization's specific situation, and participants will have the opportunity to practice their new skills during the course of the program.


Outline

I.    THE PROBLEM: UNDER-PLANNED, OVER-LONG, INCONCLUSIVE MEETINGS

II.   THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE CALLING A MEETING

       A.  Why have a meeting?

       B.  Planning what will happen at the meeting.

            1.  The content: what do you want to discuss?

            2.  The process: what is the best way to discuss it?

       C.  Who should attend the meeting

       D.  When to have the meeting

       E.  Where to have the meeting

       F.  Spreading the word: ways to prepare for a productive meeting

III.  DURING THE MEETING

       A.  Roles

            1.  The group leader's key functions

            2.  The facilitator factor: why you should not run your own meetings

            3.  The recorder and the visual group memory

            4.  The Devil's advocate: how to avoid groupthink

            5.  The timekeeper: how to make conscious priority decisions

            6.  The participants and their responsibilities

       B.  Working the agenda: how to keep the meeting on track

       C.  How to get unstuck

       D.  Written record of results: ensuring effective follow-up

IV.  CONCLUSION: WAYS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MEETINGS IN YOUR
       ORGANIZATION

 

About the Written Materials

The written materials for this seminar were selected by the Association for Continuing Legal Education for inclusion in the book "The Best of ACLEA 2001."  An objective of this publication is "to honor the achievements and recognize the efforts of our colleagues who have shared their knowledge and experience during the year through written course materials that exemplify the professional and educational standards of excellence ACLEA and its members aspire to.[1]  The criteria for selection as "The Best of ACLEA" are:

  • "Are the materials of lasting reference value? ....
  • "Are the materials rich in content?  Do they include practical suggestions and helpful examples, as well as supplementary materials such as checklists, sample forms, lists of additional resources, a glossary, flow charts, and other graphic illustrations?
  • "Are the materials clear, concise, well written, and well organized? ....
  • "Are the materials sufficiently well developed to stand on their own?  Do they go well beyond a bare-bones outline or mere reproductions of PowerPoint slides from the oral presentation?"[2]

In 2005, the written materials for this seminar were also selected for inclusion in "ACLEA Gold: Refining the Standard for CLE Programs and Publications" which is comprised of a dozen papers that "are, in all respects, the 'best of the best'"[3] and which satisfied the four preceding criteria, plus a fifth:

  • "Does the paper do all of the above better than any other paper on the subject?"[4]

 

FOOTNOTES
[1]  "The Best of ACLEA 2001," (Association for Continuing Legal Education, Austin, Texas, 2002), p. 1.
[2]  Id., p. 2.
[3]  "ACLEA GOLD: Refining the Standard for CLE Programs and Publications,"  (Association for Continuing Legal Education, Austin TX, 2005), p. 1.
[4]  Id., p. 2.

 

For more information about this program, please e-mail MegSpencerDixon@TimeManagementForLawyers.com.