How to Get the Most Out of Meetings

Traveling to and attending meetings can take away a lot of precious selling time. Meeting after meeting, it is easy to become passive and take a "back of the room" approach. Every professional athlete lives by the slogan, "No Train, No Gain"; top sales people attend meetings with the attitude 'the more you learn the more you'll earn!' Consider the following steps to boost the Retention, Return and Rewards of your next meeting: Set Goals Determine what you want to accomplish by setting specific goals. "Gray goals beget gray results. Clear goals beget clear results." Request a copy of the agenda in advance. This will help you focus on the topics to be covered and assist you in developing better goals.

Question the Matter

Once you have committed to attend the meeting or program, begin making a list of the questions or topics you have an interest in or need more information on. This will dramatically improve your personal "take away" value of the meeting and learn the most from the expert, speaker or meeting resources.

Make a List

Develop a list of action items, as they occur to you, throughout the presentation. Consider what steps you could take to apply the meeting ideas to improve productivity. Participants who attend our sports-theme seminars and workshops identify "My M.V.I.'s" or Most Valuable Ideas as immediate action steps to take after the program. Divide the list by action item, implementation steps with start and completion times. Once you have identified your action points, spend a few minutes after the program to determine steps to execute them. Be sure to transfer the steps and deadlines to your personal calendar or planner.

Reinforce and Review

Learning to apply new selling skills is like any other; it must be presented and reinforced, practiced and developed. In order to improve performance, training must include a variety of learning opportunities and most important, reinforced in the field. Create a notebook or make an audiotape of your notes from the meetings or courses you attend. Keep these ideas next to the telephone in your office or in your car. Then, when you are on hold or in bumper-to-bumper traffic, you can quickly review your notes and action steps. Reviewing this summary of ideas will stimulate new ideas reinforce what you've learned and dramatically increase your retention.

Words Worth Writing

It is a big temptation to write what a speaker is saying verbatim et literatim. Don't do it! Instead, write the point the speaker is trying to make or the key idea that applies to you.

Ask, "How Does This Apply to Me?"

To reach a broad audience, meeting topics are often very general. However, you will get the most from meetings when the information is practical and relates you. As you learn new approaches and techniques, relate them to your situation and apply them to your current projects or problems. Discuss topics with colleagues-exchange creative ways to get the most out of them. You'll be amazed at how easily and quickly you'll apply new ideas when you know exactly where to put them in to action.

Go Outside the Box

Use the meeting or seminar to initiate steps to become better, more informed or skillful in the topics of discussion. Find other speakers, programs and resources that are experts in the field. Buy their books, articles and tapes or attend additional seminars to reinforce your learning and skill development. Studies show, adults learn best from a variety of methods.

Meetings are a necessary part of the business game. Prepare and plan for each meeting you attend as if you were in charge. In charge, that is, for your learning. The old axiom-- 'Time is money', rings true every time you are out of your territory to attend a meeting. Make the most of them!


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Anita Sirianni is a professional writer, speaker, and “sales coach” in high demand. She is the president of ANSIR International and can be reached at 800-471-2619. Her web-site is www.AnitaSirianni.com