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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to be a bit more creative in

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Speaker 1: how you start your meetings, especially when you're meeting virtually.

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Speaker 1: It's easy to skip the niceties or have them be meandering.

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Speaker 1: A little more thought can set a much better tone.

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Speaker 1: We have all been in enough virtual meetings by now

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Speaker 1: to know how terribly some can go. People log in

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Speaker 1: but are clearly multitasking. Worse, maybe no one is clearly

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Speaker 1: in charge. There is no set objective, which means there

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Speaker 1: is no way to end the meeting except when the

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Speaker 1: allotted time is up. As people log on, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of hey, how's it going and good you, and

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Speaker 1: then awkward silence. You can move from this slow start

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Speaker 1: to real productivity, but it's not going to be easy.

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Speaker 1: But that is not the way things have to go.

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Speaker 1: I was recently in a meeting where someone asked us

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Speaker 1: all to lead off with a recent win. It was

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Speaker 1: a great way to start in a positive problem solving

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Speaker 1: frame of mind. We were all winners. Now we were

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Speaker 1: just going to keep winning together. That's probably the tone

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Speaker 1: you want to strike. Two now, it doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: be the recent win question. That only works if you

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Speaker 1: don't work all that closely with the people you are

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Speaker 1: meeting with, But it could be anything conversational. Really, ideally,

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Speaker 1: it is related to, but not exactly the same as

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Speaker 1: the meeting topic. So, for instance, if you are meeting

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Speaker 1: with the team that's reshaping your organization's summer internship program,

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Speaker 1: everyone can talk obout something that they learned at an

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Speaker 1: early job. If you are setting budgets, one topic might

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Speaker 1: be an interesting way any team you've worked with has

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Speaker 1: saved money. Of course, it doesn't have to be strictly related.

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Speaker 1: Asking for book or restaurant or podcast recommendations can be fun,

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Speaker 1: or maybe it's the place you haven't been but would

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Speaker 1: most like to visit. Doing this can help you establish

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Speaker 1: common ground, Joan. If you do wind up planning that

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Speaker 1: trip to Hawaii, tell me I'll send you the itinerary

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Speaker 1: my mom followed when she was there. She loved it.

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Speaker 1: And this is key. Someone needs to be directing the discussion,

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Speaker 1: and even more importantly, they need to make sure everyone

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Speaker 1: goes around and answers in turn briefly and positively. The

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Speaker 1: person leading the meeting is setting the tone that this

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Speaker 1: is how the meeting will run. Everyone will be heard,

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Speaker 1: everyone will contribute, and things are going to run like

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Speaker 1: clockwork because guess what this opening chatter is going on

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Speaker 1: the agenda. Yep, you want to account for it since

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Speaker 1: some banter is going to happen anyway. This make sure

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Speaker 1: it doesn't run over and also keeps someone from snarling

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Speaker 1: that no one has time for any of this, thus

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Speaker 1: poisoning the tone of the entire meeting. Putting the question

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Speaker 1: you plan to ask on the agenda also allows people

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Speaker 1: to think about their stories ahead of time. This is

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Speaker 1: particularly good if the stories are going to require some thought,

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Speaker 1: like the example of the team that has saved money

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Speaker 1: or a lesson from an early job. We all love stories,

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Speaker 1: but guess what stories are better when you think them

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Speaker 1: through and practice telling them. When the meeting starts well though,

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Speaker 1: you're most likely going to have a good meeting. People

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Speaker 1: will feel closer and more trusting. They will feel like

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Speaker 1: everything is positive, but their time is being respected. The

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Speaker 1: meeting has a format, an introduction leading to the main course. Yes,

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Speaker 1: this takes some time and thought, but you know what,

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Speaker 1: if you are asking for people's time and a meeting,

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Speaker 1: you owe this thoughtfulness to them. So start your meeting

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Speaker 1: will and you'll likely ended feeling pretty good. Two. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i

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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.