This guide will walk you step by step through all the essential phases of conducting a successful meeting.

Was your last meeting successful? Were you an effective chairman or an active partici¬pant? Were those who had a con¬tribution to make invited? Did the meeting accomplish the stated purpose? These questions and many more need to be asked and answered affirmatively if organizational meetings are to be successful.

The chairman - the one who plans, hosts, and leads a meeting - must establish a proper environment. The environment, and the feeling con¬veyed to the participants by the chairman, will have a great impact on the outcome of the meeting. The chairman must stimulate, guide, clarify, control, summarize, and evaluate the discussion, keeping in mind his responsibility to ac¬complish the meeting objectives. If he fails to perform his role effec¬tively, the meeting may turn into meaningless discussions of irrele¬vant subjects, a series of pointless power plays, and even boring monologues.

Meetings are essential and can serve as an effective method of com¬munication within an organization. They have been rightfully catego¬rized by some managers as time-consuming, high-priced, and un¬-productive, but this need not be the case. Sometimes we expect too much from a meeting. When it fails to meet our expectations, we may be too quick to criticize. Meetings are helpful means of achieving coordination. When there is a gathering of people with a mutual interest, the results may be as follows:

• Encourage participation in the subject of concern;
• Integrate interests;
• Broaden perspectives and change attitudes;
• Improve decision-making; and
• Motivate and commit participants to courses of action.

The fundamental decision concerning meetings is not whether to hold them, but how to make them effective. Recent studies show that members of middle management spend 30 percent of their time in meetings. Unproductive meetings can result in substantial loss to an organization.

On the other hand, a productive meeting becomes a tool for effective management communi¬cation, and serves as a vehicle for development of specific plans or the organization of specific tasks. In any case, successful meetings don't just happen; they occur as a result of careful planning, good leadership, and close attention to details before, during, and after the session.

My name is Meir Liraz and I'm the author of this book. According to Dun & Bradstreet, 90% of all business failures analyzed can be traced to poor management. This is backed up by my own experience. In my 31 years as a business coach and consultant to businesses, I've seen practically dozens of business owners fail and go under -- not because they weren't talented or smart enough -- but because they were trying to re-invent the wheel rather than rely on proven, tested methods that work. And that is where this book can help, it will teach you how to avoid the common traps and mistakes and do everything right the first time.

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