Practical Application

Tomorrow morning I will be leading a meeting starting at 7:00AM.  I've led meetings before, but having the experience of my second leadership seminar has me working hard to improve and in many practical ways. 

In the first week we signed up as partners to give a 10 minute "lesson" and a hand out to our fellow classmates from a list our professor provided.  Some of these items were things I had never thought of before.  Holly and I signed up to present on the Meeting Tool Kit.  We created an awesome inventory, and in addition we created a couple of add-ons, like a specific list if you are having a virtual meeting, and even a list of pre- and post- meeting tasks. (I'm happy to provide you a copy if you comment for one below!)  After combing through this list, staying til 6PM, I set the room, and I think our committee will feel great about walking into a room so well prepared! (Can meeting prep be considered one of Chapman's love languages?)

Over the past two days I've been busy preparing, knowing this is our first meeting to kick off the 20th anniversary of an event in April.  I worked for hours on preparation and a very  detailed timeline over the next 12 months.  I've updated the financials document, which is great, because last year was our company's first time to have a budget for this event, and so now we have hard data to base decisions on (Thanks Accounting and Finance!) I have created a subcommittee structure, and have contact info prepared for each sub chair who makes up this steering committee.  The agenda is robust, but I have committed to making this happen in one hour.  To help "steer" this steering committee, I've given them a paper agenda and in addition have written it on the board with check boxes next to it, to feel like we are actually getting somewhere in the meeting (Thanks for the idea, Dr. Johnson!).  To top it off I've made directional signs to hang on the door and have an icebreaker planned (another group's presentation) planned to get us started.

Its so great to be a part of a program that not only gives you the education to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of the game, but to have such practical pointers will certainly give us greater opportunities for leadership!