"Meetings, Bloody Meetings" is the title of a management training video starring British Comedian John Cleese. It's a title that sums up a sentiment with which I'm sure many empathise. There are some jobs where it seems as though there's an endless stream of meetings to attend and not enough time to carry out the action steps agreed upon in the meetings.
So the first time management tip regarding running effective and productive meetings is to decide whether or not it is necessary to host the meeting at all? If you are simply wish to disseminate information then a meeting is not the best use of your time or the time of those you intend to invite to participate.
However, if a meeting is needed then here are 7 more expert time management tips to help you achieve maximum effectiveness and productivity in your meetings:
1. Evaluate whether or not it's absolutely essential to meet in person. Perhaps the meeting can be conducted via a webinar or simply over the phone. This could save a lot of travel time.
2. Ensure there's a clear and concise agenda for the meeting and allocate a time for agenda items. This will help attendees to stay focused on the agenda item and not go off on tangents. This in turn will help to ensure that meetings run to time.
3. Select or elect a chair for the meeting who can be depended upon to keep the meeting moving in a forwards direction while allowing everyone to make a meaningful contribution.
4. Prepare and distribute any documents for the meeting well in advance of the meeting and encourage attendees to read the material beforehand. Sounds basic but often people wait until the meeting itself to read the associated papers and so they are not fully prepared for the meeting.
5. Aim to start meetings on time every time. Sometimes this may not be possible for instance, if it's a board meeting and there are not sufficient members present for the meeting to be quorate. However, in other cases, you want to develop a reputation for being punctual.
Stakeholders will learn that if they want to express their views on certain issues then they had better be on time. And don't feel obligated to brief latecomers. That will defeat the purpose of starting on time and further disrupt the flow of the meeting.
6. Schedule meetings at odd times such as 1:25pm or 12:50pm. An irregular time will help individuals pay more attention to the actual time of the meeting and encourage punctuality.
7. Encourage people to listen attentively. Often time is wasted in meetings repeating what has already been said.
1.People On Your Optin List Have Wanted To Be There.
This differentiates the email marketing from cold marketing, because every single person on your list has himself signed in and is eagerly waiting for the information you have promised about your internet business opportunities
In a way all these people belong to your very own fan club, actually they are your most loyal partners. This sets certain requirements to the information you will send them.
2.Collect Email Addresses Always By The Form On Your Site.
This is important, because only then people know, what they have subscribed. It will increase the response rate and stop the spam accuses, because you will get their confirmation before the first email will be sent.
You are wise if you join the affiliate program, which has a prewritten email campaign for you, consisting some hundreds of emails. Then the only thing you have to do is to set the optin form on your site and drive targeted traffic to it.
3.The Email Marketing Campaign Can Be Ran Totally On An Auto Pilot.
Once set, you can really forget the whole email marketing campaign, because every new sign up will start to get the emails during a period of maybe two years. This means a huge repetition, which is needed to get the desired results.
4.A Quality Autoresponder Can Run Several Taylor Made Campaigns.
In most cases the marketer of the internet home business opportunities has to run also some separate campaigns. Now these campaigns can be set up in the same way, but of course the marketer has to write the email copies.
I have used taylor made campaigns, which have had from 10 to 18 emails to get the needed repetition. But where from have I got the email addresses? Well, I have simply copied them from my main optin list using the special feature of my autoresponder service.
In this way my subscribers have got additional service and useful information about new offers.
5.You Must Segment The Subscribers Into Groups.
All subscribers are not equal. The marketing will be more effective if you could segment your list and think, what special requirements each segment would have. Then you should write taylor made messages for each group.
6.People On Your List Are Your Most Valuable Contacts.
Yes, these people are volunteers and have wanted to hear from your internet home business opportunities. This means that you should think very carefully what you write to them.
The worst thing is to try to sell them all the time. They want useful information and the sales element should be only a side service.
As you see the email marketing is really working effectively, it is highly targeted and will give the response quickly. You should collect the optin addresses on a regular basis, because the bigger list you will have, the better results you will get.
Both Nickolove Lovemore & Juhani Tontti are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.