Messing Up A Meeting

The two-part Going to a Meeting series is based on a group of middle managers in a large hospital. It is designed to give anyone who attends meetings the skills they need to contribute more effectively and deal with even the most awkward colleagues.

Part 1: Messing up a meeting
Messing up a meeting, focuses on Jeremy preparing to go to a regular meeting with his colleagues. Unfortunately ‘preparing’ doesn’t describe what we see him doing. ‘Grabbing a few papers and showing up late’ would be more accurate.

The narrator, John Cleese, tries to warn him that this isn’t good enough, but he’s in too much of a hurry to listen. The meeting, inevitably, is a disaster for him. On his return, Cleese explains what he ought to have done and he gets another chance. The results of doing his homework properly produce an entirely different outcome.

Jeremy’s problems are not over though. First, he irritates the chair by talking when he has nothing to say and refusing to stick to the agenda. Then he gets into a blazing argument with a colleague by disagreeing with him in entirely the wrong way. In both cases, Cleese shows him what he has done wrong and how to change his behaviour for the better by keeping it simple, cool and courteous.

Messing up a Meeting shows how to avoid common mistakes, how to prepare, how to get points across and win arguments. And how to not look like a fool in front of the boss!

The key messages:

• Do your homework – research the facts, present your case professionally and prepare for objections
• Keep it short – stick to the point, stick to the agenda and if you’ve got nothing to say, keep quiet
• Keep it cool and courteous – use questions, not contradiction, show you’ve been listening, respect other’s arguments, admit your weak points and others’ strong ones

Available in French.