This bestselling all-in-one guide to the event planning business is back and better than ever, fully updated and revised to reflect the very latest trends and best practices in the industry. This handy, comprehensive guide includes forms, checklists, and tips for managing events, as well as examples and case studies of both successful and unsuccessful events. Judy Allen (Toronto, ON, Canada) is founder and President of Judy Allen Productions, a full-service event planning production company.
"The Meeting Planning Process -- A Guide to Planning Successful Meetings" by Certified Meeting Professional Mary Jo Wiseman offers a common sense approach to managing the meeting planning process based on the knowledge and experience she garnered over a 20+ year career as a corporate meeting and event coordinator. The author's systematic approach to project management helped her to get and stay focused on the task at hand while handling multiple details, projects and deadlines throughout her career and she wants to share her secrets for success with others. The author firmly believes it is NOT just one person who makes a meeting or event happen, but rather a well led TEAM of dedicated, enthusiastic, talented individuals who come together to do what they do best to help organizations EXCEED PROGRAM OBJECTIVES and make them SHINE. It is the PROCESS or system used to get started that can either keep you on track or send you off the rails. This Guide offers a practical overview of the entire planning process for people just starting out in the business or meeting planning veterans alike, and offers keen insights and valuable tips to help CREATE the perfect EXPERIENCE for their audience by staying true to the basic elements of the planning process. It is intended to lead people through the proper steps and the sequence of tasks involved in planning a meeting such as: Establishing a Planning or Design Team; Developing an Overall Plan; Budgeting; Site Selection; Communications; Contract Review and more. The Guide also includes handy templates developed by the author -- a Meeting Time Line; Overall Plan; and Request for Proposal as well as descriptions and diagrams of possible room set-ups.
This book outlines the principles of planning, implementing, and evaluating successful professional meetings and conferences in education. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the knowledge base of effective meetings and conferences (nine principles held by effective meeting designers; characteristics of effective meetings and conferences; principles of effective adult learning); (2) early planning (identification of target audiences, conference budgets, identification of cosponsors or partners; selection of locations and dates; delegation of responsibility for conference design and planning); (3) design issues (selecting activities and approaches; identifying the view of participants assumed in the design; using the authentic task approach; choosing and supporting speakers; communicating with leaders, facilitators, and presenters; marketing conferences; preparing preconference participant mailings; managing conferences); (4) evaluating a conference or meeting (focusing the evaluation; identifying the evaluation's audience; choosing data collection methods; evaluating the meeting design and process; selecting evaluation methods; using evaluation information to make improvements; and conducting regular evaluations of small meetings and working sessions; and (5) producing conference proceedings (purposes of proceedings and ways to capture the meeting and add analysis to reporting). The following items are appended: examples of topics addressed by professional meeting planners; sample agendas; and sample evaluations. The bibliography lists 23 references. (MN)
A tremendous amount of time is lost in business every day because of ineffective meetings. This dynamic book demonstrates how to have fewer meetings and get better results. It explains how meeting management practices and attitudes have changed, and the most appropriate and effective meeting formats to obtain timely, high-quality, group decisions.
This practical guide to facilitating planning meetings will enable you to effectively jump-start your projects and lead to success. Rigorous planning is vital to your project execution and success. Projects are often multifunctional, requiring input from various stakeholders. Project planning often tends to be done piecemeal or not at all, often leading to missing and/or incomplete information and correspondingly poor results. This book will show you how to do it right. How to Facilitate Productive Project Planning Meetings is a guide to help you plan your projects by showing you how to effectively facilitate productive face-to-face kickoff sessions (both in person and virtual) and ongoing planning meetings. Effective planning meetings will help you not only develop key artifacts but also provide continuous team building. You’ll also learn about the impacts of culture (organizational and global) on team dynamics and discover methods to ameliorate these impacts. A case study of building a sustainable house will help you understand the concepts and grasp the terminology. The book will also feature dozens of illustrative stories (from the authors as well as other practicing project managers) that will illustrate meeting techniques that went well (or not so well). Numerous templates, sample schedules, and checklists round out the value of this book in helping you facilitate effective meetings.
A study by MCI found that most professionals believe that over 50 percent of meeting time is wasted. More than 90 percent admit to daydreaming in meetings, 73 percent have brought other work, and 39 percent have fallen asleep. You might think that there would be fewer meetings. However, in the survey 46 percent said they attended more meetings than a year ago. Meetings cost time and money. Many meetings end with no results or outcome. How can you be sure you are using your time and money effectively? The answer: with proper training. Even MBA graduates have never had a course in how to plan, organize, and present an effective meeting. That is the subject of this new book which will teach the proper skills and training to get great results with every meeting, every time! You will learn the checklists for planning your meeting, setting the agenda, strategic planning, how the physical setting can be improved, how to properly open a meeting, handling difficult people and maintaining control, how to assess and evaluate your meetings, and the correct method to end a meeting. Good meetings don't just happen, they are planned and created. Atlantic Publishing is a small, independent publishing company based in Ocala, Florida. Founded over twenty years ago in the company presidentâe(tm)s garage, Atlantic Publishing has grown to become a renowned resource for non-fiction books. Today, over 450 titles are in print covering subjects such as small business, healthy living, management, finance, careers, and real estate. Atlantic Publishing prides itself on producing award winning, high-quality manuals that give readers up-to-date, pertinent information, real-world examples, and case studies with expert advice. Every book has resources, contact information, and web sites of the products or companies discussed.
"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.
Meetings allow us to bring people together to inspire each other, solve problems and make a difference. Yet, we all spend too much time in dull, frustrating meetings where little is achieved and even less is followed up on afterwards. In Hold Successful Meetings, executive coach and former Google leader Caterina Kostoula will change all this. Her unique framework will: - Equip you to hold fewer, more purposeful meetings - Create a creative and inclusive environment - Leave participants inspired and ready to take action Whether virtual or in-person, people will leave your meetings inspired by the value you created together and ready to make an impact. 'I bought this for my whole team at Google!' Reader review
Whether you regularly conduct meetings, or just attend them, you can make your meetings more productive by applying the easy-to-use guidelines included in Not Another Meeting! Learn to create an objective and an agenda for every meeting. Learn the steps for opening and closing a meeting, establish and reinforce ground rules to keep participants on track, attentive and fully engaged, and help groups manage and resolve conflicts.
