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#CareerAdvice : #Presentations -5 Common #CommunicationMistakes (and how to fix them).. A Great REad for All!

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We have all unnecessarily suffered through disengaging, ineffective presentations and meetings. But most of us make the same mistakes, again and again. By applying these straightforward fixes, we can make our communication experiences more effective and productive.

Below are five fixes for more effective communication.

1. STARTING

The most precious commodity in today’s world is not gold or cryptocurrency, but attention. We are inundated with a tremendous amount of information vying for our focus. Why then would so many people squander away an opportunity to gain attention by starting presentations or meetings with: “Hi, my name is . . . and today I am going to talk about . . . ” This is a lackluster, banal, disengaging way to begin. Not only does it lack originality, it is downright silly since most speakers start this way while standing in front of a slide displaying their name along with the title of their talk.

Rather than commence with a boring and routine start, kick off your presentation like a James Bond movie–with action: You can tell a story, take a poll, ask a provocative question, show a video clip. Starting in this manner captures your audience’s focus and pulls them away from other attention-grabbing ideas, people, or devices. This action-oriented approach works for meetings, too. On your agenda, have the first item be one or two questions to be answered when you start. In this way, participants get engaged from the moment the meeting begins.

 

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2. ENDING

Research in psychology teaches us that we tend to remember best what we hear first and last rather than what comes in the middle–aka primacy and recency effects. You would expect then that speakers would dedicate more time to how they conclude their talks and meetings. Unfortunately, this just doesn’t happen. The most common concluding lines I hear go something like, “I guess we’re out of time and someone needs our conference room.” This type of ending is a missed opportunity! Take time to plan out and practice how your presentation and meeting will end. Be concise and clear because you don’t have a lot of time. Once you signal you are wrapping up (e.g., “In conclusion”), your audience disengages and begins to focus on what comes next.

A great way to end is to first express gratitude: “Thank you for your time,” or, “I appreciate your attention to this.” And next, simply speak out your communication goal, which should be a concise statement of what you want your audience to know, feel, and do as a result of your content.

3. TRANSITIONING

In college, I was trained for a full academic quarter to be a tour guide of my campus. During my very regimented training, they impressed upon me that above all else good tour guides never lose their tour groups. The very same standard exists for presenters and meeting facilitators. Never lose your audience because if you do, they will likely go to their phones or their friends or to sleep. The weakest link of any tour or presentation comes when moving from one place/portion to the next. It is in transition that your audience is most likely to get lost, distracted, or confused. Thus, you must spend time planning and practicing robust transitions that go beyond “next” and “so.”

In any typical business communication, there are several potential transition points that must be bridged successfully:

  • Moving between points in your talk or meeting
  • Entering and exiting slides
  • Going from presentation into Q&A
  • Switching from one presenter to another

A successful transition includes a concrete wrap-up or takeaway of the immediately prior topic/slide/person and then bridges to the next topic/slide/person. These transitions can be statements (e.g., “With a clear understanding of the current problem, we can now address one way to solve it”) or questions (e.g., “With a problem as substantial as this, how can we best solve it?”).

4. HEDGING

Too many leaders today negatively impact their credibility through their word choice, such as, “I think we should kind of sort of enter this new market.” Hedges are these phrases that litter much of our communication. Repeated use of hedging language reduces perceptions of your competence because it softens your assertiveness, reduces your clarity, and makes you seem wishy-washy and unsure of what you are saying.

The best way to address hedging is via substitution. Find stronger, more powerful words to replace these less assertive ones. For example, “I think” becomes “I believe” or “I know.” “Kind of” and “sort of” can be replaced with “one way.” Finding more assertive substitutions affords you a way to make your point more clearly and definitively. However, before you can substitute, you must first become aware of your hedging language. Thankfully, apps such as Orai, LikeSo, Ummo, Ambit, and VoiceVibes can provide useful, personalized feedback on your language use, along with pacing, pauses, variation, and tone.

5. MEMORIZING

We all fear standing in front of a group in the middle of a high-stakes presentation and forgetting what to say next. Many people try to address this ubiquitous fear by memorizing their content. Unfortunately, memorizing often increases the likelihood of blanking out. How do you escape this fate? Simply put: Avoid memorizing.

Here’s why: If you commit your script to memory, you create the “right” way to speak your content. This approach only increases the pressure you feel because you want to say things exactly the way you previously memorized. This pressure increases the likelihood that you will make a mistake due to the increase in cognitive load. Further, this added mental demand reduces the bandwidth you have to adjust and adapt to your audience. Thus, speaking to your audience “through” your script causes you to be less connected and engaging.

But if you aren’t supposed to memorize your presentation, how can you be sure your content won’t be forgotten or come out as a rambling, unorganized mess? The key to not blanking out and remaining connected and engaging is to create a comprehensive outline that is based on a clearly structured presentation. A structure provides a map for both you and your audience. With a map in hand, it’s hard to get lost. First, take the time to thoughtfully apply an audience-centric structure. Second, document it in an outline format. At least three types of outlines can help you:

  • Traditional outline: Leverage an indented, hierarchical listing of your points. Provide key phrases or words.
  • Question-based outline: List questions that spark specific answers in the order you intend to cover your content.
  • Illustrated/picture-based outline: Graphically map out your ideas using icons, pictures, and words.

Finally, practice your presentation from your outline and allow yourself permission to vary how you speak your content; your wording need not be exactly the same each time. Outlines afford you the opportunity to adjust and adapt your content based on how you feel and how the audience responds. This flexibility reduces the likelihood of blanking out when compared to the more rigid memorizing approach.

 

FastCompany.com | BY MATT ABRAHAMS  5 MINUTE READ

 

#Leadership : Dan Pink Reveals The Perfect Time For #Meetings, #SalesPitches, & #CreativeTasks ….Your #Decision on When to Hold a #Meeting should be a #Strategic one, Not one Made Out of Convenience. Knowing When you’re at your Best for Specific Tasks Could Give you a Competitive Edge.

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The famous TED speaker and New York Timesbestselling author Daniel H. Pink, along with his team of researchers, spent two years analyzing more than 700 studies in fields ranging from economics to psychology to unearth the hidden science of perfect timing. I recently sat down with Pink to talk about the results in his new book, When.

Specifically, we talked about Pink’s research and what it reveals about the timing of meetings, sales pitches, and creative tasks.

When to time meetings

Pink says the biggest mistake business professionals make when scheduling meetings is “lack of intentionality.” In other words, we set meetings when it’s convenient without considering whether the time of day unleashes the team’s best ideas. “When we schedule meetings, we only think about one criterion—availability,” says Pink. “Instead, we should be thinking about what kind of meeting it is: analytical, administrative, creative. We should be thinking about what type of people are there. Are they morning people or evening people?”

 According to Pink, your decision on when to hold a meeting should be a strategic one, not a decision made out of convenience. In one extraordinary study, a group of business school professors studied whether a CEO’s mood during earnings calls impacted the stock price. They studied 26,000 earnings calls from more than 2,000 public companies over a period of six years. They found that the time of day influenced the emotional tone of the conversations, and by extension, perhaps even the company’s stock price.

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Calls held first thing in the morning—when moods are generally high—turned out to be reasonably upbeat and positive. The tone grew more negative as the day progressed, especially if the calls were held in the early afternoon when Pink says our moods tend to dip (before rebounding after five o’clock). “Afternoon calls were more negative, irritable, and combative than morning calls,” writes Pink.

The takeaway: When you can, schedule important calls and meetings earlier in the day.

When to time sales presentations

Pink’s research shows that when we approach a decision, we come to the table with a ‘default position.’ Asking your boss for a raise? Their default position might be to say “no.” Approaching a potential customer to make a sale? Their default position might be to say “no.” Once again, timing matters.

Pink says salespeople are more likely to overcome a prospect’s default position earlier in the day—when moods are elevated—or immediately after a short break. We all suffer from cognitive fatigue. The brain consumes a ton of energy and we get tired from all that thinking. We need short, frequent breaks to achieve peak performance.

The takeaway: Schedule a sales call in the morning or after your prospect comes back from a break.

When to time creative tasks

Dan Pink surprised me with the timing of this activity. I assumed that if our energy levels are highest in the morning, it would be the best time to do our most creative work. Not necessarily, says Pink. Think about the mood cycle once again, Pink reminded me. In general, our positive moods rise in the morning, dips in afternoon, and rises again in the evening beginning around 5 p.m. The second thing to keep in mind is “vigilance.” Vigilance refers to our cognitive ability to be hyper-focused and to keep distractions at bay. Vigilance spikes in the morning. The research shows that analytical decisions are best made in the morning hours precisely for this reason. One study found that students perform better on math tests in the morning. Math requires sharpness, vigilance and focus.

But all brainwork is not the same. ‘Aha moments’ or creative insights often occur later in the day after 5:00 p.m. or so. At the time, most of us have an elevated mood and less vigilance. According to Pink, “At those looser moments, a few distractions can help us spot connections we might have missed when our filters were tighter.”

Takeaway: Tackle analytical problems in the morning and save creative pursuits for later in the afternoon and early evening.

Our cognitive abilities fluctuate during the day—often extremely so. Sometimes we’re sharper, faster, or more creative. Knowing when you’re at your best for specific tasks could give you a competitive edge.

Carmine Gallo is a keynote speaker and author of The Storyteller’s Secret and Talk Like TED and his new book Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get From Good to Great.

 

Forbes.com | February 28, 2018 | Carmine Gallo , CONTRIBUTOR

#Leadership : Work Smart- 5 Ways To Make Sure Your #Meeting Will Be #Productive …Don’t Accept another Meeting Invite without Making Sure it Meets all of These Criteria.

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Meetings can be the bane of working life, but they don’t have to be a waste of time if you ask yourself a series of questions before every meeting, and only attend meetings that are really necessary.

So before you click “accept” on that new calendar invitation, look out for these signs that indicate it’s not going to be a waste of your time.

1) YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE MEETING IS ABOUT AND WHAT IT’S TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH

Part of the reason that a meeting tends to drag on for longer than it needs to is because there is no clear purpose. As a result, attendees might be more likely to veer off topic for long periods of time. Christopher Frank, a VP at American Express, asks everyone to answer the question, “What exactly are we meeting about?” at the start of each meeting. He said, “This will show you if everyone is on the same page or not, and if your meeting topic is focused enough. Are the answers inconsistent or too long? Refocus the meeting and try again.”

Related: How To Nail The First 90 Seconds Of That Big Meeting

2) YOU KNOW WHAT TYPE OF DISCUSSION WILL TAKE PLACE

Each meeting has a different purpose and commands a different type of discussion. Cameron Herold, business consultant and author of Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in Three Years or Less, told Fast Company in a 2015 article that there are three types of meetings: information share, creative discussion, and consensus meetings.

In information-share meetings, attendees are expected to listen, and discussions are generally limited to “requests for clarification.” Creative discussion meetings tend to be an exercise in brainstorming, and consensus meetings require participants to make a unanimous decision. Having a good idea of what type of discussion will take place ahead of time lets you be better prepared, and allows you to plan accordingly. 

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3) THERE IS A CLEAR AGENDA TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE

Having an objective is one thing, but a productive meeting focuses on what needs to happen in order to meet that objective. Connie Williams, CMO & chief knowledge officer at Syneticsworld, a company that studies meeting processes, told Fast Company that instead of focusing on the problem, facilitators should frame the agenda in “problem-solving” language. Some examples: How can we build a better campaign? How can we find new clients? As Williams explained, encouraging people to think about solutions means that they’re less likely to focus on the problems. 

4)  ITEMS ARE PRIORITIZED ACCORDINGLY

In addition to being solution-focused, a productive meeting prioritizes the most important items and tackles those first. Mat MacInnis, CEO and founder of digital content platform Inkling, previously wrote in Fast Company that his team would always prioritize the meeting items based on what they need to get done that week, and park any debates that spin into “strategic, long-term conversations” for later discussions. At the end of the meeting, everyone knows exactly what they need to execute for the rest of the week.

Related:  This Silicon Valley-Style Meeting Can Transform Your Whole Team 

5)  THERE ARE SYSTEMS IN PLACE TO PREVENT MULTITASKING AND INTERRUPTIONS

Sometimes, it’s not the meeting itself that’s unproductive, but the attendees. Whether they’re answering emails instead of listening to an important announcement, or they’re constantly interrupting another, there needs to be a system in place to prevent this from derailing your meeting. For one, you can either ban digital devices in meetings, or limit them to those who may need them for meeting purposes, such as pulling up a presentation. If it is interruption that you’re trying to fix, you can assign someone to monitor and interject the interruptors, setting the expectation that people should be able to finish what they want to say at every meeting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anisa is the Editorial Assistant for Fast Company’s Leadership section. She covers everything from personal development, entrepreneurship and the future of work.

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FastCompany.com | February 1, 2018 |  BY ANISA PURBASARI HORTON 3 MINUTE READ

#Leadership : How To Deliver Your #Presentation In Half The Time You’d Allotted…Talking Faster During a Presentation is a Bad Idea. Here are a Few Better Ones.

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It’s the day of your big presentation. You’ve spent the last few weeks fine-tuning every detail. You rehearsed last night, and you were flawless. You’ve never felt more prepared.

But then you hear something that makes your stomach drop: “Sorry, but we’re going to need you to keep this to 10 minutes.” You’d planned for 20. How can you possibly pull it off in half the time?

Your first instinct is to just try and talk faster and maybe breeze past a less-important point or two–hopefully you can still cram in everything else, even if it’s a little rushed? Nope, wrong strategy.Nobody can be effective speaking in hyperspeed. Here’s what to do instead.

Related: How To Nail The First 90 Seconds Of That Big Meeting

GIVE YOUR CONCLUSION FIRST

If you have only one takeaway from this article, make sure it’s this one: Always state your conclusion first. Running out of time before getting your key message across is devastating. So don’t wait. Get to the point right away, no matter what. You may worry that your core message is kind of complicated and takes a little bit of background to spell out. Even so, get it out there first and then use your remaining time to fill in the context. If you can’t put your finger on what that essential conclusion actually is, though, you may have a bigger problem (but here’s how to solve it).

Related: The Only Three Notes You Need To Write Before Speaking Off-Script

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SPEAK EITHER IN “LAYERS” OR “MODULES”

Sometimes you may have a hunch that things could change and your talk might get cut short–which is great, because it gives you a chance to line up some contingency plans. There are two methods you can use to design your presentation with flexibility in mind so you can still manage to get through everything, even if you’re given less time:

Layering. This approach simply means designing your presentation from the inside out. The inner “layer” is your key message–the most important takeaway you want your audience to leave with. The next layer consists of your other major points that directly support that key message. Then you have the details that support those key points–which together make up a third layer. Think of it kind of like dressing for cold weather: If you get too warm, you can always take off a layer. Similarly, if you get short on time, you can take off one of the outer layers. What’s really important is that you communicate your inner layers effectively.

For example, let’s say you’re presenting about a project you’d like to get approval for. With the layering approach, you’d first deliver your key message about seeking approval for your project, followed by the supporting arguments and fundamental issues–the main benefits to approving the project, the outcomes it will deliver, and the challenges you may face. If you’re pressed for time, you’d simply leave out any additional details beyond that and stick just to those key points.

Modularizing. This means designing your presentation in “modules” that you can eliminate if necessary. While you still give your key message first, you don’t share all of your key points right away (even if they’re all relatively equally important). Instead, you leave out some of the points altogether, depending on how much time you have. The thinking here is that it’s better to do a great job spelling out just one supporting argument, than doing a mediocre job rushing through three of them. Think of it like going to dinner: You may want to skip either appetizers or dessert if you’re worried you’ll be late for the movie you bought tickets for.

So to continue the example from earlier, you’d deliver your key message, followed by your first key point (the reasons why the project should be approved) along with any relevant details. Then, if you have time, you can go over your next key point (intended outcomes of the project), along with those details. If you’re pressed for time, you’d drop the “challenges” point entirely.

ADJUST YOUR SLIDES ACCORDINGLY (OR MAKE MULTIPLE VERSIONS)

Finally, if you sense your presentation time might get cut down, you should design your slide deck to adapt–reflecting either a layered or modular approach, depending on which one you’d prefer taking. Or you could just save a couple different versions of your deck so you can pick the right one depending on the circumstances. At any event, when your time gets cut short and you’re forced to give an abbreviated presentation, having your slides out of order is going frustrate you as well as your audience. It’s much better to create either a few different slide decks or one that will work in any situation.

While time is one factor you may not be able to control, how you use it is.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anett Grant is the CEO of Executive Speaking, Inc. and the author of the new e-book,CEO Speaking: The 6-Minute Guide. Since 1979, Executive Speaking has pioneered breakthrough approaches to helping leaders from all over the world–including leaders from 61 of the Fortune 100 companies–develop leadership presence, communicate complexity, and speak with precision and power.

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FastCompany.com | January 5, 2018

#Leadership : How to Disrupt Your Next Meeting — and Look Like the Smartest Person in the Room…Even the Most Ineffective Meetings Represent Opportunities for Leverage.

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Eighty percent of success, the saying holds, is about just showing up.  By this measure, the millions of meetings that are held in offices across the U.S. every day provide attendees with a strong chance to make the other 20 percent happen.

top view, group of students together at school table working homework and have fun

If they could appreciate being there, that is.

 Last year, a survey of 2,066 Americans by Harris/Clarizen showed that almost 50 percent preferred just about “any unpleasant activity” to sitting in a meeting. Alternatives included taking a trip to the DMV (18 percent), watching paint dry (17 percent) and undergoing a root canal (8 percent).

But is taking this attitude a winning strategy for an ambitious professional? Spoiler alert: not so much.

Related: Let’s Give Meetings a Much-Needed Makeover

Worse, it drives your boss nuts. Recently, one senior executive of an American-based tech multinational told me that members of her team routinely “check out” during meetings.

“These are very smart people,” she says. “But often, they either start multitasking or just aren’t fully present at meetings.”

Behavior like this can hurt even the most valued high-potential employees, because it shows passivity, rather than leadership and initiative. To be sure, there are plenty of reasons to mentally check out during an endless round of meetings — including fuzzy agendas, vague objectives and the general feeling that one just doesn’t need to be there.

In theory, anyone who calls a meeting will have a purpose in mind: to arrive at a decision, solve a problem or share updates that require feedback. In practice, that’s often not what happens.

So that kind of meeting is a waste of your time, right? Wrong. Even the most ineffective meetings represent opportunities for leverage.

Here are three ways to look like the smartest person in the room, even when a meeting feels like the dumbest time-suck ever:

1. Challenge up.

When the CEO or a senior executive attends a meeting, lower-ranking team members can wind up feeling intimidated or tongue-tied. Even when they have valuable ideas to offer, they can feel obliged to defer to authority — or worse, wholly succumb to group-think, which occurs when an organization appears to value harmony and conformity over rigorous analysis and critical evaluation.

But reticence in meetings often leads to flawed decision-making, so bosses hate it. (You may snort at this with disbelief, but my coaching experience bears this out.)

Recently, the president of a Detroit-based automotive parts manufacturer, whose VP of sales I coached for executive presence, shared that he wanted his lieutenant to “challenge [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][him] more in meetings.”

Recent research supports this. A 2013 Center for Talent Innovation survey of 268 senior executives found that integrity and speaking truth to power are highly sought-after qualities in emerging leaders. Similarly, a 2014 paper by the American Psychological Association showed that being courageous and speaking from the heart are characteristics of executive presence that help people get ahead.

But that begs the question: how do you successfully challenge the boss and not get fired? The answer is to offer substance — through sound reasoning and compelling evidence — and in a way that doesn’t threaten his or her status. This is important to get right: Neuroscience research has shown that a perceived status threat — such as a condescending tone, a scowling facial expression or thinly veiled sarcasm — is as painful as a blow to the head, leading to increased cortisol levels and anxiety.

A boss experiencing this sudden flash of stress hormones may react emotionally (translation: negatively) rather than focus on the value of your perspective.

Related: 5 Tips For Better Meetings

 

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Conveniently, success can lie in a simple swap-out of prepositions. Replace “but” with “and” when challenging your boss. Try saying it out loud to yourself right now, and see which sounds better: “I appreciate everything you just said, but we should consider XYZ.” Or, “I appreciate everything you just said, and we should consider XYZ.” The latter conveys a collaborative spirit whereas the former just sounds oppositional.

But you can’t approach this half-heartedly. A challenged boss may challenge back by probing for context or detail, or both. You responding with a sheepish expression and a half-baked argument can do more harm than if you’d said nothing. Still, if you’re immediately short on the requested details, offer to provide additional information post-meeting.

2. Disrupt the seating order.

It’s natural to sit with those who make us feel comfortable: friends, allies or teammates. But you’ve already established those bonds. Because organizations run on relationships, use your next meeting to expand your network.

Try sitting next to someone to whom you’ve never spoken, someone with a vastly different skillset or professional background — even someone who, at first blush, you may not like. This takes effort, but the approach can yield significant benefits, allowing you to establish new connections, gain a new perspective on a problem or cooperatively brainstorm ideas.

What’s more, the gesture signals to someone that you respect them. And if there isn’t an opportunity for a quick sidebar chat, you’ve created an opening to connect after the meeting — provided you actually speak to them, of course.

You can break the ice, and avoid a threat response, by elegantly justifying your disruption of the usual seating order. Ask, “’Mind if I sit next to you? I wanted to run something by you.” Or offer a firm handshake and say, “We haven’t officially met. I’d love to learn a bit more about you.” The options are endless.

The point is to take advantage of the many opportunities at meetings for smaller conversations with your colleagues, especially in problem-solving sessions. Reduce emotional distance by reducing physical distance.

3. Commit to providing something of value.

Providing value is the antithesis of “just showing up.” But if you think that value means the loaf of banana bread that you distributed at the last meeting, think again. People will gladly accept your kindness and thank you politely, but no one will see you as a serious player or respect you for filling their tummies with empty calories, however delicious.

Meetings are about progress, results and relationships. Being prepared is a good foundation for providing value, but as corporate meetings go, especially impromptu ones, you may not always be clear on a meeting’s objective until it starts.

Related: An Introvert’s Guide to Communicating With Results

Regardless, the key here is to be engaged. When a meeting begins, commit yourself to providing value in one form or another. Don’t hang back and wait for others to speak. Instead, take the lead — humbly (especially when you’re not in charge). This could mean asking thoughtful questions that broaden everyone’s understanding of an issue. It could mean offering fresh ideas that lead to possible solutions to a pesky problem. It could mean bringing the meeting back on track when it’s been hijacked by an off-topic rant, or using humor — judiciously — to de-escalate tension in the face of a frosty exchange between participants.

There are many ways to contribute value. Deciding in advance that you’ll do so can sufficiently prime you to shine in a meeting, even as others in the room silently wish they were somewhere else.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 15, 2016 | HARRISON MONARTH

 

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#Leadership : 10 Tips for Planning a Successful Company Conference…A Conference that Isn’t Planned Well can Impact your Career Like a Lead Balloon. If the Speakers Don’t Impress Attendees, or You Run Out of Food, It can be Talked About for Months Afterward…And you Might Shoulder the Blame, or at Least Share It.

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Planning a company conference can boost your career and visibility. It can strengthen company sales and morale, depending on its purpose.

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Conferences are complex, though, and can be tricky to plan. A compelling agenda and great speakers are a must. But so are food, comfortable seats and a myriad of elements behind the scenes. Think air conditioning. Heat. Morning coffee.

A conference that isn’t planned well can impact your career like a lead balloon. If the speakers don’t impress attendees, or you run out of food, it can be talked about for months afterward … And you might shoulder the blame, or at least share it. 

So plan your company conference thoroughly. Don’t leave anything to chance. Here are 10 tips for planning successfully.

Initial steps:
1. Decide on a clear purpose

Successful conferences have a clear purpose. Do you need to motivate the sales force? Introduce a new product? Engage in team-building activities? Bring separate geographical regions together? The purpose determines much of the rest of the conference: its size, its speakers and the agenda.

 

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2. Brainstorm a wishlist

Once you have a defining purpose, begin to brainstorm. What would you — and the meeting committee, if there is one — most like to see? Do you want to engage dynamic and well-known speakers? Do you want plenary sessions, where the entire group of attendees gathers to hear speakers? Or do you need a series of break-out sessions on multiple topics? What about the conference venue? Should it be near the company? In an area convenient to attendees throughout the U.S. and overseas?

3. Create a budget

Once you have a purpose and wish list, set up your budget. Be sure to include all the categories you need. Set up a line item for each thing on your wish list.

Will you need paid speakers? Will meals be part of the meeting? How about the venue? What kind of conference rooms will you need? Plenary session rooms may have to accommodate several hundred people, while break-out session rooms may only need to accommodate 20 or so. Will you be hiring vendors to create printed or web-based material? For meeting-related information?

Create a list of everything you need and how much each item will cost, roughly. Then begin your search for a venue that can accommodate all of it. Look for meeting places that offer flexible meeting packages and are well equipped to handle your needs.

4. Narrow down the wish list and budget

Once you’ve paired your wish list and the budget, one of two things might happen. One: Your available budget and the wish list are a match! You can now start the planning stage in earnest.

If you have a shortfall in the budget for your wish list conference, revise the plan so it fits within your budget. If you planned eight breakout sessions over two days, for example, streamline it into four sessions over one day. If your desired speakers quote expensive fees, scout around for an equally good one who will speak to your business for less — or pro bono.

5. Research Available Dates

The planning period of a conference needs to be at least one year, and preferably more. Why? Because meetings have a multitude of logistics. You need a venue, vendors and speakers all available on a particular date. If your planning period is less than a year, availability of one or more of these elements may be limited.

You will need to place a tent pole in the form of a date before all the planning is complete. It’s a good idea, though, to research availability dates for 1) venues that can accommodate the number of people and type of meeting you want, 2) well-known speakers and 3) vendors. Once you have their dates of availability, decide on the meeting date(s).

The Rubber Hits the Road: Planning in Earnest
You’re now ready to begin planning the conference!

6. Book the venue

Set up commitments for the place where the conference will be held. If the venue will be responsible for preparing and serving meeting meals, set up commitments for those as well.

7. Hire the speakers and vendors

Make arrangements with any speakers. Send them the meeting date, time and any other material needed. Hire any vendors you will need.

8. Develop the agenda

You may have a good sense of what the agenda is from the initial brainstorming sessions. Or, you may at this point need to sit down and draw it up, point by point. Developing a firm agenda should begin immediately once the date for the conference is firm.

Related: Need Help Networking? 4 Rules to Remember.

Be sure to circulate the agenda so that all relevant parties have seen and contributed to it before it is finalized.

9. Publicize the conference

All meetings, whether internal or external to the company, should be publicized. If attendance is mandatory — say it’s a motivational meeting for the sales force — publicity will excite the attendees and let them know what the meeting is all about. If it’s not mandatory — rolling out a new product, so employees can attend or not — publicity can provide reasons to attend.

Publicity should provide reasons that the meeting will be beneficial for attendees. Use it as an informational channel as well, to let people know the dates, the agenda, the venue and any surrounding attractions.

Decide what the publicity methods should be. Web site? E-mail blasts on a regular basis? Flyers and brochures? A story in the company newsletter? A mix of all these?

10. Evaluate the conference

This post-conference step is sometimes skipped. It shouldn’t be. You need concrete and measurable feedback on the conference for attendees. A short questionnaire asking what participants gleaned from the conference is a good idea. Go back to your purpose here. If the purpose was motivating the sales force, what was their take-away? If a new product launch, did attendees learn valuable information about the product? Were they comfortable during the meeting? Did they find it valuable to their careers?

Conference planning is a great way to build your visibility and profile within a company. Because conference planning is complex, it needs to be handled with an overall plan in place and specific steps to execution. These 10 tips will set you up for a memorable conference.

Entrepreneur.com | July 30, 2016 | SARAH LANDRUM