Welcome, Guest.  [Login  Register]
« When You HAVE to Train
Contacting Recruiters »

Running Large Meetings - The Greeting

September 25th, 2006

Running large meetings can sometimes seem like an arcane art. Fortunately, there are a number of simple practices that vastly improve your ability to present and communicate effectively. Over the course of the next several months, we will have a lot more to say about running large meetings and presentations, but today, we cover the first of these techniques — the Greeting.


icon for player  Play in Popup

Extra Content
Runnning Large Meetings - The Greeting Shownotes (PDF)

Legend:     Members-Only    Premium    Interviewing Series



Digg!    Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 25th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under podcasts, meetings.

Trackback URL for this post: http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/09/running-large-meetings-the-greeting/trackback/

9 Responses to “Running Large Meetings - The Greeting”

  1. pinzraider Says:
    September 25th, 2006 at 7:12 pm

    The best greeting I ever saw was at a presentation put on by Franklin Covey. It was at one of the FC Training centers in Texas, and about 50 people attended. The presenter stood in the lobby outside of the training room and greeted everyone as they arrived. It was pretty obvious that he didn’t know any of the attendees prior to the event, and several of the attendees (myself included) had traveled over 300 miles to attend. During the session, he would call on us by name to ask for comments or opinions on the material. He actually remembered everyone’s name, city of residence, and industry! I was blown away. At the end of the day, someone asked about his unique ability. He told the group that this was not a “talent” he was born with. He recognized after doing presentations for several years that developing this skill would enhance his ability to connect with his audience, so he devoted a significant ammount of time training himself to be able to ‘learn’ the names of every person in his training audience. He told us that he had refined his ability to the point that he could remember the names of each of his attendees for about 3 months following an event. About one month after the presentation, I emailed him with a question - in his response, he made several comments that evidenced the fact he actually did remember me (specific comments about my job, industry, and hometown that I didn’t cue him on in my email). The most embarassing thing about this whole experience for me (and I JUST realized it) is that I have completely forgotten his name, and I am not sure I could pick his face out of a line up today! But I can honestly say that in spite of the fact that FC frquently holds events in my area, I always recommend to other people that they make the trip to the Dallas training center to attend any FC presentation.

  2. Rob Says:
    September 29th, 2006 at 5:02 pm

    A cast on business interpersonal relationships would be a great idea. Greetings, introductions(ourselves and others), situational examples, etc. Looking forward.

  3. Mark Horstman Says:
    September 29th, 2006 at 5:32 pm

    Rob-

    Thanks for the suggestion. We have a series of casts scheduled about those very topics.

    Mark

  4. tsrush3 Says:
    October 4th, 2006 at 9:07 pm

    I really enjoyed this podcast even though I don’t plan on putting on any large meetings in the near future. I’m a research scientist and manager and find that I’m pretty weak on the interpersonal skills. The tips on greetings, handshakes, etc. were much appreciated. Nevertheless, I still get a little stuck and see this happen to other scientist colleagues of mine. After the introduction and greeting, there is sometimes an awkward moment of silence where both parties don’t know what to say next. My impression is that it sometimes “ruins” the effort of the greeting/introduction. I’d love to know, especially in the big meeting situation where there is a large number of people to great, how to comfortably move on to the next person.

    Thanks for the podcasts!
    - Tom

  5. Mark Horstman Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 10:08 am

    Tom-

    Thanks for the kind words. Glad you’re getting value from our work!

    Just look briefly to the next person who is approaching, and then look back to the first person, SMILE, and say, “would you please excuse me? I’d like to greet everyone before we start.”

    Works every time.

    Mark

  6. Martin Brinkman Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 9:14 pm

    Hey Mark,

    I just listened tto this podcast after downloading some time ago on my flight home next week.

    Absolutley hanging out to hear the rest of the “large meeting” casts you foreshadow. Doing this sort of work extensively and want hear/share/care with you!

    Martin

  7. carlycosmo Says:
    June 14th, 2007 at 7:58 am

    Hi Gents,

    I have recently found Manager Tools on i-tunes and really enjoy all of your podcasts. (I have even completed my DiSC profile - amaxing how accurate it is)

    I have found this podcast very interesting and applicable to my line of work. I too am also looking forward to the rest of the “large meetings” series.

    From an Aussie fan!, Carly

  8. Mark Horstman Says:
    June 14th, 2007 at 11:51 pm

    Carly-

    Welcome aboard - glad you’re here!

    It’s a privilege to serve you.

    Mark

  9. rthibode Says:
    February 7th, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Hi Mark & Mike,

    Are there show notes or slides available for this podcast? Apologies if I’ve missed something.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.