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Resume:
My first business venture was owning my own salon station and I learned a lot! I morphed into an office job for a steady income when I was only 22 years old. Within a few months of being receptionist I moved into a position of office administrator for the regional office, organizing company information, parties and training for over 100 engineers. Independent business owner would follow, sprinkled with some coaching jobs and teaching positions. Today I run my own adoption website, beauty rep and side salon business.
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Highlight Article:

Meeting Expectations

Let’s start at the top. When it comes to meetings, you need to make the meeting worth your people’s time. Here’s a few thoughts from my expectation and personal “how-to” book:

Streamline, maximize and throw every efficiency curve ball at your disposal. This means:

Start on time.

• If people know you’re waiting to start, then you’re teaching them to make you wait. Starting on time says I value my time and yours and I’m not wasting any of it.

Keep it short and simple.

• My dad always used the guideline of women’s skirt length for topics and talks: “Long enough to cover the subject yet short enough to be interesting.” Very redneck and crude but very easy to remember and always true! The average adult attention span maxes out at 45 minutes. No matter how fantastic your material is if you go over that mark your effectiveness is going to take a hit.

Clearly define your agenda.

• Remove frustrating mystery. Tell them exactly what to expect, what you will cover and what they will get out of it. The right start will do more to dissuade frustration and disappointment than every other tool at your disposal.

DO NOT under any circumstances read handout materials or slide information word for word.

• It’s an insult to the intelligence of those present when you waste their time reading what they can read for themselves. If you’re presenting your job is to do just that - you clearly and simply present your materials and leave the details and repeats of information for handouts and literature.

Look the part.

• If you’re spearheading a meeting or presentation you need to look the part. Professional appearance is an absolute must and the lack of it can be devastating.

Act the part.

• Speak clearly, without slang, with authority and conviction. I don’t care if you don’t know what you’re talking about as long as you make me believe you do. And if you don’t, it doesn’t matter what else you try.

Leave time to mingle.

• This is so critical and yet is so often overlooked. Chances are the people you’re meeting with have something to do with your success. If you make time to visit with them, get to know them, answers their questions and give them some one on one time you’ll do more to project your success than you can imagine. People respond well to learning that you’re a person too; that you are approachable. In my experience, leaving some time at the end of a meeting for this very purpose always brings more positive results than any other aspect of the meeting.

You only get one chance at a first impression. Suffice it to say that all of these elements were lacking in my experience tonight and thus my first impression wasn’t good. There were some moments that were so painful it took every ounce of self control I had to keep my backside in my seat. All I could do was shake my head and leave before the meeting was wrapped up. And you know what? I don’t feel one bit bad about that!