FULL TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – Show Opening

Does anybody actually read your team meeting agendas before the meeting? Do you think they could use a little bit of spicing up? Well, stick around and you’re going to pick up seven ways to create an exciting team meeting agenda on the Meeting Leadership podcast. 

Are you a professional who wants to become a more effective leader? Then get ready for Daily Tips From the Coach with the experience and inspiration to help you succeed in any leadership situation. You’re listening to the Meeting Leadership podcast with Gordon Sheppard.

00:40 – Podcast content starts here!

Welcome to another episode of the Meeting Leadership podcast. My name is Gordon Sheppard. I want to say thank you for being here and thank you for taking time out of your valuable day to really come to this podcast to pick up the combo of building yourself as a leader and learning how to run great meetings because you know how powerfully those two things go together. Really appreciate your trust in the show to do that. Great to have you here. 

01:03 – Getting team members excited about your agenda

And today, on the show we’re going to address a pain point that so many meeting leaders experience. You’ve prepped the agenda but nobody is reading it before they get to the meeting. Well, today we’re actually going to show you seven ways to create an exciting team meeting agenda. And don’t worry about getting out your pen and paper to take notes for this episode because there is a download that helps people create really exciting agendas related to one of the episodes on the Meeting Leadership podcast.

01:30 – Free AGENDA download – https://meetingleadershipin.com/71download 

Now, that episode is the first part of a five-part series and that series is called how to create an effective team meeting agenda and you can get the download by going to meetingleadershipinc.com/71download. That’s meetingleadershipinc.com/71download, and I mention that download because that whole series kind of really digs into using the word agenda itself as an acronym that you can really use to light up your agendas. Now, today, we’re actually going to be taking a deep dive into the letter E from the agenda acronym and really help you to absorb these seven tips that you can take action with right away. 

02:10 – Tip 1 – Include inspirational quotes that are connected to the goal 

And with that in mind, let’s get right to our first tip, which is this, you should include inspirational quotes that are connected to the goals that you’re trying to achieve during your meeting. And let me give you an example to illustrate this. Now, one of my favorite quotes is from Benjamin Franklin and he says, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can get done today.” And you can imagine that if you included that quote on a meeting agenda where the whole goal of the meeting was really to kind of spark people to really get them moving that’s the way to get connected to that idea by simply reading that out loud and then telling people, “Hey, we’ve got to really get at some of these projects faster.” And if you are the person who is actually preparing the agenda and you really want this quote to pay off, I really suggest that you take some time at home and just in the mirror, say the quote out loud. That way you go to deliver it in the meeting, it will have definitely more impact.

03:02 – Tip 2 – Include new project announcements that are directly related to the meeting’s outcome

Which leads us into tip number two, which is to include new project announcements that are directly related to the outcomes of this meeting. And you can see where I’m going with this. It’s trying to create some incentive to get people to read the agenda beforehand, to know that if they come to this meeting prepared, there’s a good chance that these projects that are important to them will actually happen and pay off. And if you don’t think that one’s going to work, 

03:26 – Tip 3 – List individual achievements in the agenda

then why not try tip number three, which is to list individual achievements right there on the agenda, and then you can imagine that people are looking at the agenda during the meeting, You get a chance to kind of read them out and acknowledge those achievements in the meeting itself. And I can tell you from personal experience that this is not only a way to sort of get people’s attention before the meeting, but it gives you a real reason to celebrate, and honestly, we don’t celebrate enough during many of our meetings.

03:56 – Tip 4 – Include positive stories 

And if you like tip number three, you’re really going to like tip number four, which is to include positive stories right there on the agenda. For example, if you’re meeting team supports a charity, you could provide an update on how the charity is benefiting from your team efforts. And another way to celebrate a positive story during a meeting is to actually set aside the time in the agenda itself to allow one of your team members to share a great story about someone else on your team. Then as you accumulate more and more positive stories during your regular meetings, you’re going to also want to record them and revisit them at the end of the year. And then you’re building like this treasure trove of these great stories and you’ve always got something to put on that agenda that’s going to get people’s attention.

04:43 – Tip 5 – Include a note about refreshments

And another great way to get people to read that agenda before the meeting, well, you put a note right on there that you’re going to be serving refreshments. I can tell you pizza can go a long way. The muffins and the coffee, sometimes people in the right moment really appreciate those things and maybe you’re even going to bring in a free lunch, but if you announce it on the agenda, that’s actually another way to really get people to participate. 

05:06 – Tip 6 – Announce bonuses that are tied to what you’re trying to achieve

Which leads me into tip number six, which is to actually announce bonuses right there on the agenda, but not any bonuses announce the bonuses that are tied directly to what you are achieving during your meetings. So, for example, if somebody made a suggestion during your regular meeting about how to improve sales and they actually went out and did it, then announced their bonus and really connect all those things together. Again, this is trying to get everybody on the team kind of going in the same direction because maybe they’re going to be incentivized by the same type of thing.

05:37 – Tip 7 – Show how the meetings are moving the organization’s strategy forw

And finally, we come to tip number seven when it comes to creating an exciting team meeting agenda. And that is to show how the meetings that you are in right now with this team at this moment in time are actually moving the entire organization strategy forward. And one of the practical ways that you can do this right on the agenda is actually to put the vision statement at the top and then at the beginning of the meeting, read the vision statement for your entire strategy out loud. Then have your meeting, and at the end of the meeting leave a few minutes to actually say, “Did this meeting that we just have move our vision statement forward?”

And after you try the vision statement, why not put up a key strategic objective and then actually talk about that one at the beginning of your next meeting, and then at the end, see if you addressed it? And you can see the momentum that we start to get by pulling all of that together. And I can tell you, people will get really excited if they can see they’re a big part of moving the big machine in the right direction.

06:34 – Recap of 7 tips

And now, let me take a moment to summarize the seven ways to create an exciting team meeting. Agenda number one, include inspirational quotes. Number two, include new project announcements. Number three, include individual achievements. Number four, add in positive stories. Number five, announce what refreshments you’re bringing to the meeting. Number six, tell everybody about their bonuses right there on the agenda. And number seven, use the agenda to show how your meetings are moving your entire organization strategy forward. And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, you’re going to really get a lot out of episodes 71 through 75 on the Meeting Leadership podcast.

07:12 – MLP 071: How To Create An Effective Team Meeting Agenda part 1 – https://meetingleadershipinc.com/71

Now, that five-part series, it’s called how to create an effective team meeting agenda. And you can listen to part-one right now by going to a meetingleadershipinc.com/71. And there is also a terrific bonus with that five-part series. 

07:30 – Free AGENDA download – https://meetingleadershipin.com/71download 

It’s actually a way to use the word agenda itself to really spice up your agendas. And you can get that download by going to meetingleadershipinc.com forward/71download.

07:48 – Meeting Leadership Academy – https://meetingleadershipinc.com/academy 

And I also want to let you know that this episode of the Meeting Leadership podcast is brought to you by the Meeting Leadership Academy. Now, there you’re going to find some really terrific options for your team for live training in terms of building your leadership skills and learning how to run outstanding meetings. And there’re some wonderful online options there as well, and you can get all of that by going to meetingleadershipinc.com/academy. And if you haven’t done it yet, take a moment to hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast app and then you won’t miss an episode as you go forward. And if you get a chance, please leave a rating and review and we’ll take in that information to make the next episodes even better. And as always, thank you so much for listening and we’ll see you tomorrow on the Meeting Leadership podcast. 

08:33 – Podcast Outro

Thanks for listening to the Meeting Leadership podcast. Be sure to subscribe for more strategies to help you become an outstanding leader. And don’t forget to rate and review so we can bring you fresh content every day. We’ll see you tomorrow right here on the Meeting Leadership podcast.