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Top Turn Offs When Running A Meeting

Guest post by: Nikki Owen

Article Overview: During a random quiet moment before I was about to deliver a keynote on Charismatic Leadership I calculated that I must have attended between 6000 - 8000 meetings in my career. Some have been outstanding for all the wrong reasons so I thought it might help to share my top turns offs when running a meeting!

Top Turn Offs When Running A Meeting

1. Trying to communicate too much information that will overwhelm the group/audience. According to Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi in his classic book The Flow, our unconscious mind absorbs around 2 million bits of information every second. Yet Professor George Miller from Harvard University states that consciously we can only process around 7 chunks of information. This means that the vast majority of content communicated during meetings and conferences will be forgotten within just a few hours! Consequently, less is more when deciding upon your key messages.

2. Allowing too much time for attendees to discuss ‘problems’ and ‘issues’ – the more discussion you have around ‘what’s wrong’ the more you reinforce ‘what’s wrong’ making it harder to identify solutions and a ‘can-do’ attitude.

3. Using the same format for every meeting, in terms of structure as well as the logistical layout for your meeting. People arrive at meetings with a set of pre-conceived attitudes and beliefs that may not always be helpful to ensure a constructive meeting ensues. If you always use the same format then you’ll always get a similar reaction. Therefore, the challenge is to use a ‘pattern interrupt’ to stimulate a different style of thinking.

4. Little or no audience participation. Even with the most charismatic speaker in the world, the natural attention span for most people is just 40 minutes. So delivering a presentation or reeling off monthly figures for hours is guaranteed to put your attendees to sleep. The greater the level of participation, the greater the level of ‘buy-in’ and retention of that information.

5. Lack of clear purpose regarding the point of the meeting. Without clearly defined objectives you’ll find it hard to engage your attendees and will increase the likelihood of discussions going ‘off subject’. How can you effectively ‘chair’ a meeting without identifying specific outcomes for that meeting.

6. Death by PowerPoint!!! This visual support medium is usually the medium of choice in most meetings. Attendees reactions to PowerPoint is usually “here we go again…” Too many frames, too much content on each frame, small font size that can be read easily, excessive use of clipart and cartoons are the biggest PowerPoint turn offs! The colour red is a ‘deletion’ colour, it’s not easy and comfortable for us to read and process red text. We often associate red with danger and anger so our unconscious mind protects us by minimising the impact of this colour.

7. Using a controlling, blame, aggressive style in an attempt to ‘shock’ attendees into taking action or performing better. This creates a ‘Choking Effect’. An individual’s capacity to think and perform can be seriously impaired when they feel anxious, stressed or under pressure. These mental states cause a general stiffening in the body that slows down the flow of oxygen and reduces ability and clarity of mind.

8. Lack of attention to details; for example, a room that is too small for the number of attendees, name badges spelt incorrectly, leaving someone off the list of attendees, no allowance for special dietary requirements. Often in meetings, the difference between a positive and a negative outcome is in the detail. These often ‘over-looked’ details all contribute to ensure each attendee’s presence is appreciated, valued and important. It’s about the level of care and thought you have invested in the preparation and planning that will influence the level of positive impact you’ll create.

9. Continually dismissing proposals, suggestions and ideas from attendees. This will drain the energy of the individual making the suggestion as well as everyone else in the meeting. When you criticize or speak negatively about someone you simultaneously diminish their self-worth as well as your own self-esteem. Therefore any negative ‘put downs’ automatically ‘put down’ everyone within that meeting. This can also relate to the language used by the person leading the meeting. Our minds are unable to process ‘negations’. Therefore if people are asked ‘Not to think about a flying elephant’ they ‘think about a flying elephant’ Therefore phrases such as “this isn’t difficult” “this shouldn’t be a problem” “let’s not worry” “it’s not as disastrous as we first thought” will all serve to create negative representations in the minds of your attendees.

10. People object to the speaker rather than the content. Resistance usually signals a lack of rapport. Therefore the meeting leader and speakers need to be able to build compliance and rapport to avoid attendees ‘nit picking’. A speaker or meeting leader who looks and sounds unsure, will fail to control discussions and create many negative consequences including dominating attendees, overrunning, pointless discussions, apathy, little participation, low energy.

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Article Tags: charisma, colour red, meetings, Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, PowerPoint, Professor George Miller



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