If you are in charge of a meeting:

• Before scheduling a meeting, ask yourself, "Why do I need to have everybody in the same room?" If you can't think of a good reason, don't call the meeting.
• Give attendees plenty of advance notice. This goes for meeting cancellations as well.
• Prepare an agenda, with items listed top-to-bottom in order of importance, and give it to invited attendees ahead of time.
• Schedule adequate time to cover the items on the agenda and any important side issues that may crop up during the meeting.
• Ensure that the meeting room has everything you'll need, such as a white board or projector.
• Show up early for the meeting to see that everything is in order.
• Introduce everyone at the beginning of the meeting.
• Address the items on the agenda one at a time. If you run out of time, ask the attendees if they would like to continue or schedule a second meeting.
• Never allow meetings to unexpectedly run beyond the end of the workday.
• Don't allow any one person to dominate the meeting or bog down the group. It's your meeting.

QUICK TIP: If an attendee is chronically negative in your meetings, give them an action item before the meeting. i.e., "Mark - I know you care a lot about this issue. Could you put together a two minute summary of your opinions on it and present it at the next meeting?" Many times being in the spotlight will change their attitude.

If you're an invited attendee:

• Review the agenda before arriving at the meeting.
• Show up on time or early.
• Bring paper and a pen.
• Bring business cards to hand out to anyone who needs one.
• Listen actively and take notes.
• Maintain the formality or informality established by the chairperson.
• Don't be afraid to ask for more detail or an explanation if you don't understand something. Someone else may be wondering the same thing.
• Provide input whenever possible.
• Don't engage in side conversations.
• Apologize if you are late, but don't make excuses. No one really cares what held you up and it further delays the meeting.
• Never bring friends, spouses, children, or others
  Selecting a Venture
  The basic rule is simple: "Find a market need and fill it!" The process of finding the need, and the method chosen to fill it are where the difficulties arise.Based on our opportunity scan, does the market need a product or service that is not currently being provided? Is there a needed product or service currently being provided in a less than satisfactory way? Is some particular market being underserved due to capacity shortages or location gaps? Can we serve any of these needs with some competitive advantage?Remem
  n agenda, with items listed top-to-bottom in order of importance, and give it to invited attendees ahead of time.
• Schedule adequate time to cover the items on the agenda and any important side issues that may crop up during the meeting.
• Ensure that the meeting room has everything you'll need, such as a white board or projector.
• Show up early for the meeting to see that everything is in order.
• Introduce everyone at the beginning of the meeting.
• Address the items on the agenda one at a time. If you run out of time, ask the attendees if they would like to continue or schedule a second meeting.
• Never allow meetings to unexpectedly run beyond the end of the workday.
• Don't allow any one person to dominate the meeting or bog down the group. It's your meeting.

QUICK TIP: If an attendee is chronically negative in your meetings, give them an action item before the meeting. i.e., "Mark - I know you care a lot about this issue. Could you put together a two minute summary of your opinions on it and present it at the next meeting?" Many times being in the spotlight will change their attitude.

If you're an invited attendee:

• Review the agenda before arriving at the meeting.
• Show up on time or early.
• Bring paper and a pen.
• Bring business cards to hand out to anyone who needs one.
• Listen actively and take notes.
• Maintain the formality or informality established by the chairperson.
• Don't be afraid to ask for more detail or an explanation if you don't understand something. Someone else may be wondering the same thing.
• Provide input whenever possible.
• Don't engage in side conversations.
• Apologize if you are late, but don't make excuses. No one really cares what held you up and it further delays the meeting.
• Never bring friends, spouses, children, or others
  Artificial Dissemination
  Gary is a real estate agent wanting to stay in touch with past clients and current prospects. He wants to publish a newsletter but doesn't have the staff or the knowledge to produce one. Then Acme Publishing Company enters with the answer.Acme can produce a generic newsletter/CD sent out monthly to his database. It's a turnkey system. Gary doesn't have to lift one finger. Just send in his picture with a check.And besides: Acme's got 217 local clients, been around for a few years, and publishes to 142,745 monthly cons
  the beginning of the meeting.
• Address the items on the agenda one at a time. If you run out of time, ask the attendees if they would like to continue or schedule a second meeting.
• Never allow meetings to unexpectedly run beyond the end of the workday.
• Don't allow any one person to dominate the meeting or bog down the group. It's your meeting.

QUICK TIP: If an attendee is chronically negative in your meetings, give them an action item before the meeting. i.e., "Mark - I know you care a lot about this issue. Could you put together a two minute summary of your opinions on it and present it at the next meeting?" Many times being in the spotlight will change their attitude.

If you're an invited attendee:

• Review the agenda before arriving at the meeting.
• Show up on time or early.
• Bring paper and a pen.
• Bring business cards to hand out to anyone who needs one.
• Listen actively and take notes.
• Maintain the formality or informality established by the chairperson.
• Don't be afraid to ask for more detail or an explanation if you don't understand something. Someone else may be wondering the same thing.
• Provide input whenever possible.
• Don't engage in side conversations.
• Apologize if you are late, but don't make excuses. No one really cares what held you up and it further delays the meeting.
• Never bring friends, spouses, children, or others
  Automate Your Quality Assurance
  Quality assurance is a wide range of methods which provide businesses with expected results. It's know that working with quality is one of the possible way to improve the product and as a result number of products sold. It's a good idea to improve quality assurance with information technologies, getting tests results as an electronic document will enable improve the total efficiency of quality service.The key idea about improving quality assurance with IT technologies is automation. You need to have attention of your employ
  e in your meetings, give them an action item before the meeting. i.e., "Mark - I know you care a lot about this issue. Could you put together a two minute summary of your opinions on it and present it at the next meeting?" Many times being in the spotlight will change their attitude.

  If you're an invited attendee:

  • Review the agenda before arriving at the meeting.
  • Show up on time or early.
  • Bring paper and a pen.
  • Bring business cards to hand out to anyone who needs one.
  • Listen actively and take notes.
  • Maintain the formality or informality established by the chairperson.
  • Don't be afraid to ask for more detail or an explanation if you don't understand something. Someone else may be wondering the same thing.
  • Provide input whenever possible.
  • Don't engage in side conversations.
  • Apologize if you are late, but don't make excuses. No one really cares what held you up and it further delays the meeting.
  • Never bring friends, spouses, children, or others
    Would You Like FRIES with That? Giving Customers What They Love
    It used to be hard to buy books from Foyles, the world-famous bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road. The building was a warren; the layout was haphazard; staff were hard to find. To buy a book, you had to queue twice -- once to pay and get a receipt from some hapless cashier in a barred cage, and a second time to collect your books. No fun at all.Nowadays, it's a different store. There are friendly staff, clear signs, lifts, air conditioning, author events, a jazz caf?, a helpful website, the works. It's a p
    sten actively and take notes.
  • Maintain the formality or informality established by the chairperson.
  • Don't be afraid to ask for more detail or an explanation if you don't understand something. Someone else may be wondering the same thing.
  • Provide input whenever possible.
  • Don't engage in side conversations.
  • Apologize if you are late, but don't make excuses. No one really cares what held you up and it further delays the meeting.
  • Never bring friends, spouses, children, or others to business meetings.

  If the meeting involves a conference call:

  • Call in a few minutes early to allow time for resolution of any technical difficulties.
  • Avoid using a cell phone. Reception is usually not as good as on a land line, and if you lose your signal and get disconnected it is very disruptive to the meeting.
  • If your phone has a mute button, use it whenever possible to cut down on background noise and improve the quality of the call.

  QUICK TIP: Never trust the mute button and never assume you know who's listening.

  • Pay attention! It's very tempting to multi-task while on a conference call, but the clacking of a keyboard or having to repeat information because someone wasn't paying attention is very annoying.
  • Before speaking, state your name. For example, "Jay, this is Kathy. My team will have no problem making that date."

  Tips for everyone:

  • Don't rehash moot points.
  • Cooperate rather than agitate.
  • Deflect rather than respond to personal attacks.
  • Keep your emotions in check.
  • Greet and treat everyone with respect.
  • Come prepared with all necessary documents and agreements.
  • Keep an open mind.
  • Don't insist that the opinions and positions of others are wrong. Suggest that they look at it from another perspective.
  • Don't threaten.
  • Don't do non-relevant tasks during the meeting, like typing on your laptop or reading papers.