Here are my favourite suggestions for ensuring that every meeting you hold irrespective of the size is positive, memorable and constructive:
1. The invitation – Your meeting starts with the way attendees are invited. The thought you put into the invitation can begin to create anticipation and curiosity – great emotional states for attendees. If you usually use email then put some thought into a compelling subject
line, use inspirational quotations and highlight 3 reasons why attending your meeting will personally benefit them. If you are feeling creative and enjoy thinking outside of the box then why not send a teaser. Over the years I’ve sent single apples in a box to invite people to a meeting to discuss the credit crunch. I’ve sent parchment scrolls to highlight a nautical themed meeting and on occasions I’ve used helium balloons in boxes with a tag “this meeting will result in higher sales‟. With a high impact meeting invitation your attendees will turn up looking forward to your meeting with a great positive state-of-mind.

2. Room layout – Where possible look at different ways to ‘dress’ the meeting room. You can decorate the walls with fluorescent stars and inspirational quotations. Use ‘walk-in-the-room’ music that helps to get attendees in a positive mood. Banish the traditional U-Shaped layout and create smaller team tables that are better for encouraging group discussions. Under each chair stick post-it notes with each person‟s name on – so attendees have to discover where they are sitting. This provides a fun way to ensuring you mix your positive people with your less positive people. Put bananas onto the tables instead of sweets or mints. Bananas are great ‘brain food’ whereas sugar will cause blood sugar variances making concentration difficult. Ensure plenty of water is available on the tables because water boosts brainpower, concentration and energy. Over the years I’ve used all sorts of interesting layouts for meetings; beanbags instead of tables and chairs, bubble machines and cosmos laser projectors, balloons and interesting, relevant news articles as  ’wallpaper’. You’ll see the immediate impact that ‘doing something different’ will have on your attendees. This will ‘interrupt’ any cynicism they might have about your meeting causing openness towards the session.

3. Establish clearly defined objectives – research shows that setting clearly defined objectives for your meeting significantly increases the positive impact of that meeting. When you can explain how accomplishing these objectives are beneficial to each attendee you instantly create the motivation to listen. When people appreciate the purpose or reason for a meeting they become engaged and connected to the success of that meeting. That’s why you need to have complete clarity yourself around the purpose of your meeting and this should be communicated a) at the point when you invite
attendees, b) at the start of your meeting b) reviewed at the conclusion of your meeting to assess whether you have attained your objectives.

4. Use multi – sensory communication methods – every moment we absorb information through our senses and we learn and retain more when many of our senses are evoked. Therefore, your challenge is to communicate using as many different sensory mediums as you can practically incorporate. Visual support can be conveyed with pictures, photographs and colourful PowerPoint support. People form 11 impressions in just 7 seconds about you, based on your appearance. Equally important does your body language convey confidence, positivity and gravitas? Music and sound effects are great ways to stimulate the auditory sense. Consider whistles and Klaxons for a massive energy boost that can cause instant laughter. In terms of touch, specialists in accelerated learning claim that squidgy balls and furry props can improve concentration. If you are launching a product. hand it out so people can feel and touch it. According to Professor Richard Wiseman, lightly touching someone on their upper arm makes them far more likely to agree to a request because the touch is unconsciously perceived as a sign of high status.

5. Include a burst of ‘Kindness’ and ‘Gratitude’ – according to ex- scientist, Dr David Hamilton, being kind and grateful alters the neural structures of our brains. This stimulates the flow of seratonin and oxytocin that are naturally occurring chemicals guaranteed to make us feel 25% happier! You could start your meeting with asking each attendee to identify 3 things that have happened to them (in relation to the subject of your meeting) that cause them to feel grateful. Alternatively you can conclude your meeting with asking each attendee to acknowledge which of their fellow attendees has had the biggest positive impact on them during the meeting. I often conclude my own meetings with something I refer to as a ‘Rosy Glow’ – each individual writes their name at the top of a sheet of paper, then they pass the paper around so every attendee either at the meeting or on their table writes a nice comment about that person. Ultimately each person ends up with a sheet containing a variety of positive comments - causing a ‘Rosy Glow’.

6. Use ‘The Knowledge Process’ – many meetings are held with the objective to impart information. The most effective way to ensure people remember and retain this information is by following this simple process; tell them what you want them to know, tell them again, then ask them to repeat back their understanding of what you have just told them, then tell them one more time. Tell, tell, ask, tell. When an individual receives new information they start to create a new neurological pathway, a bit like walking in dense undergrowth. Then, as they receive the information again and again their neurological pathway strengthens until it becomes easy to remember that information. On occasions I have emailed attendees with information before the meeting, then presented it again before running a quiz to check whether they have retained the information. I’ll often ask the attendees themselves to summarise this in their own words.

7. Become an ‘ace’ listener – according to Nancy Kline, author of the book, Time to Think, when you are listening to someone, much of the quality of what you are hearing is your effect on them. Giving good attention to people makes them more intelligent. Poor attention makes them stumble over their words and seem stupid. Your attention, your listening is that important. When you focus your attention on another individual you begin to stimulate the flow of positive energy that can be “felt‟ albeit unconsciously by that person. Use different active listening skills such as non-committal words with a positive voice tone to encourage the other person to keep talking. Re-state what they have just said, reflect and summarise major ideas and feelings. A great thought for you to hold in your mind is that every individual has an interesting insight for you to learn. This belief helps me to remain passionately interested in everything people say because I’m listening for some ‘gem’ that can enhance my own wisdom.

8. Encourage participation – the best meetings involve collaboration with other attendees. Cooperation accelerates engagement and interest. Set aside time in your meetings for attendees to discuss key points using positive, open questions such as: “What are the likely benefits we can achieve from this?” Apart from actively encouraging participation from people did you know that the mind and body are totally inter-connected. Every thought and feeling shows up in an individual‟s physiology. Equally every physical movement will affect your thoughts and emotions. Research by Peter Borkenau from Bielefeld University revealed that happy people move differently to unhappy people. Therefore, intersperse your meeting with physical energisers that cause people to laugh or change their emotional state. Some of my favourites include teaching people how to juggle, a simple aerobics routine or some Tai Chi movements. If you can get the attendees to smile, it is impossible for them to feel anything other than happy!

9. Appeal to people’s hearts and minds – People process information in two ways; by responding emotionally to imagery or by using logic. Therefore address both ways of perceiving information that you can achieve by using analogies to appeal to imagery and facts and figures to appeal to logic. You can help to control your attendees’ feelings and actions by planting images and feelings into your presentation. To achieve a balance in your presentation, for every set of numbers – tell a story, and for every story present a set of numbers. Give facts and figures only for points that your audience may doubt and present one point at a time, prove one point at a time, and use your most powerful facts and figures. Generally, people comprehend 11% of what they hear,32% of what they see, 73% of what they see & hear and 90% of what they see, hear and discuss. Good preparation is the key to confidence, which is the key to being relaxed because according to presentation statistics from Fred Pryor organisation, this will reduce nerves by 75% and increase the likelihood of avoiding errors to 95%. According to David Peebles he says “Depth of conviction counts more than the height of logic, and enthusiasm is worth more than knowledge.”

10.Develop your impact – Charisma is a powerful presence that enables the meeting leader who possesses it to exert high levels of impact and influence. Ultimately, this leverages the odds of you achieving your desired outcome for your meeting. You know when you have it, because people notice you; they pay attention to what you say, and gravitate towards you. Charismatic people find it easy to attract and influence others, a vital component in determining your level of success as a speaker or meeting leader. Everyone has the potential to become charismatic, because it is a natural state that some people are able to access more frequently than others. When a person is feeling comfortable, confident and passionate about the purpose of their meeting, they begin to radiate an aura of energy that captivates the attention of people around them.

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