Making Any Meeting Memorable: TIP #22: Break the Rules.

An ongoing series of 25 Tips for Making any Meeting Memorable by Christine Corelli, Author, Speaker, Consultant, and Competitive Edge Expert

Some people have confessed that they actually dread meetings because they are so boring. Here are a few ways to break the rules from the "same-old, same-old" and unexpectedly delight your people.

• If your budget is limited, hold your meeting at a conference room at your local park district or set up at a local sports bar or popular restaurant.
• Ditch the lectern! Have your speakers stand directly in front of the audience. It will break down any walls and establish a better speaker-to-audience connection. If the speaker has notes, they can use a small table.
• Instead of presenting your awards at the end of the day or evening, try starting the meeting off by recognizing the winners on your sales team. Take a few minutes to congratulate and thank them for meeting goals, closing deals and making money.
• Vote for an MVP and give them an award. Select the person who contributed the best ideas to the rest of the group.
• Here is something that definitely breaks the rules, but gets great results every time. It may not fit in with your company culture, and it definitely will not be appropriate for an on-site meeting, but here goes: – The last hour of the meeting, most people will be watching the clock and waiting to go back to their room, visit the pool, or go the bar and congregate with their friends, right? Right at the last hour, bring in ONE bottle of beer for each participant. Call it a "Beer Break" without the break. You'll see big smiles, and the last hour will seem to fly by. (This works great with construction companies!)
• If you are holding a managers meeting, ask them to leave their titles at the door. Have your biggest executive conduct a "Make it Your Business" session where other leaders will state what they would do it they were the "Top Banana." You'd be amazed at the great ideas you will hear." I once facilitated such a session. The CEO of a major construction company started the meeting wearing a hat. He took off his hat and said, "Okay folks, at our last meeting, you said that I needed to do a better job at communicating. How have I done this past Quarter? Am I doing better?"