I have.
This weekend I was fortunate to deliver the closing keynote for the global leadership community of Meeting Professionals International.
This community of committed leaders professionally plan meetings and events. They know how to make meetings matter.
Meetings are meant to inspire action. They serve as a catalyst for change.
Truly great meetings change lives.
A great meeting changed mine. I was young. I was broke. I was lost. I went to a meeting (almost by accident).
3 hours with Jim Rohn changed my life. Forever.
He gave me permission and ignited my passion and purpose. He also provided the tools.
I still have those meeting notes from 19 years ago. I still have my 3 BIG goals. I fondly recall implementing my post meeting action plan. I still use Jim’s core principles today.
Jim shared some truly transformational information that night. He was also realistic in acknowledging that for every 100 people in the room only 3 or 4 would take his suggestions for success and actually take action. We are all creatures of habit. Change is hard work.
The most important part of any meeting is what happens next.
Here are a few meeting metrics to assist with post meeting assessment:
What did you do differently as a result? The next day? 100 days later? The rest of your life?
Who did you meet that matters?
How did your world change? Your world at work? How do you intend to change the world? The world at work?
Why did this meeting produce such a powerful result?
The What – Who – How – Why test is a pretty good assessment.
Inspiration helps. An action plan holds you accountable. If you’ve heard me speak live you know that I refer to the post meeting action plan as the TAN Plan. TAN is simply an acronym for TAKE ACTION NOW.
The assignment: Write down 3 things you will take action on in the next 100 days that will have high impact post meeting. Write down 3 people you will reach out to as part of your network to offer support in the next 100 days (working with a sponsor who is going to call you in 100 days to check on your TAN Plan progress is GOLD).
Content is critical to meeting success and I know people covet information that can keep them on the cutting edge. However, the reality is that for most people new information simply isn’t enough. The ability to execute on the information is the key. The plan to turn big ideas into action and results is the difference maker.
Have you been to any good meetings lately?
Put a TAN Plan together. See what happens next.
