WEBVTT - Double plan your meetings

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to double plan your meetings. That is,

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<v Speaker 1>to plan meetings with your attendees in mind, and not

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<v Speaker 1>just plan what you'll do at the head of the

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<v Speaker 1>table or is the speaker on your zoom call. In

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<v Speaker 1>his book Teach Like a Champion Superstar, educator Doug Leamoff

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<v Speaker 1>advises teachers to do this double planning in their classrooms.

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<v Speaker 1>As he puts it, it's as important a plan for

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<v Speaker 1>what your students will be doing during each phase of

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<v Speaker 1>your lesson as it is to plan for what you'll

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<v Speaker 1>be doing and saying. When teachers double planned lessons, they're

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<v Speaker 1>less likely to plan a class or students are expected

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<v Speaker 1>to just sit and listen the whole period. When kids

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<v Speaker 1>listen to a teacher drone on and on, well, it's

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<v Speaker 1>no wonder that their minds wander. Not surprisingly, the same

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<v Speaker 1>thing happens in meetings, both in person ones and virtual ones.

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<v Speaker 1>The amount of multitasking that goes on during conference calls

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<v Speaker 1>is almost comical. But if you double plan a meeting

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<v Speaker 1>focusing on what you and any other presenters will be

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<v Speaker 1>doing and what the other participants will be doing. Everyone

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<v Speaker 1>will be more engaged. So as you plan a meeting,

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<v Speaker 1>consider what every participant does during every minute. Do you

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<v Speaker 1>want them just to listen or to weigh in? And

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<v Speaker 1>if so, how do you want them to think about

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<v Speaker 1>how they'll implement your ideas? Do you want them to

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<v Speaker 1>critique your ideas? Do you want them to come up

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<v Speaker 1>with new ideas? Frame each section by indicating the participant's role,

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<v Speaker 1>and make sure you share this with the people in

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<v Speaker 1>the room or on your zoom session. I'd like to

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<v Speaker 1>share my ideas for potential partners for our new program

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<v Speaker 1>and then get your feedback on who might be best

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<v Speaker 1>and how to reach them. Or here's the proposal for

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<v Speaker 1>the launch of the new website. I want you to

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<v Speaker 1>identify any potential issues you see. Double planned meetings are

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<v Speaker 1>a lot less boring. They're also better for the bottom line.

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<v Speaker 1>If you think about the monetary cost of an hour

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<v Speaker 1>long meeting with eight people who make an average of

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred thousand dollars, that meeting costs four dollars in

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<v Speaker 1>salaries alone, not including benefits or overhead, and given that

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<v Speaker 1>people often stop other work a bit before a meeting

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<v Speaker 1>and take time to resume work after we're really talking

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<v Speaker 1>more like eight hundred dollars. Is it worth eight hundred

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<v Speaker 1>dollars to have seven people smiling and nodding at you

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<v Speaker 1>for an hour? If you do this once a week,

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<v Speaker 1>the costs really start to add up. Is it worth

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<v Speaker 1>forty dollars to have people just sit there? Wouldn't you

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<v Speaker 1>rather have ways for people to contribute ideas and suggestions.

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<v Speaker 1>If a meeting is just for sharing information, circulating a

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<v Speaker 1>memo could be a more efficient alternative. Now, some people

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<v Speaker 1>may object that meetings, whether virtual or in person, are

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<v Speaker 1>preferable to memos because they build relationships among colleagues. And

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<v Speaker 1>I get that relationships are definitely important, But sitting passively

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<v Speaker 1>beside someone isn't really a prime community building activity. If

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<v Speaker 1>you want your meetings to foster relationships, all the more

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<v Speaker 1>reason to double plan and incorporate interaction among participants to

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<v Speaker 1>advance that goal. If you're convinced that double planning may

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<v Speaker 1>be valuable, here's how Doug lemof Advise is going about it.

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<v Speaker 1>Create a two column plan with what you will be

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<v Speaker 1>doing in the left column and what participants are doing

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<v Speaker 1>in the right column. So for each section of the meeting,

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<v Speaker 1>you can see side by side what you're doing and

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<v Speaker 1>what participants are doing. After you've finished planning, scan down

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<v Speaker 1>the right column. Do participants engage in a variety of

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<v Speaker 1>activities over the course of the meeting or are there

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<v Speaker 1>stretches when there's a lot of passive listening? If so,

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<v Speaker 1>can you add more interaction? After planning a few meetings

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<v Speaker 1>this way, you'll grow accustomed to thinking about what everyone

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<v Speaker 1>in the room or on the call should be doing

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<v Speaker 1>with every minute that they're there, and you won't be

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<v Speaker 1>able to believe how much time everyone wasted in the past.

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<v Speaker 1>If you try double planning your meetings, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear how it does, and if you have great tips

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<v Speaker 1>for making meetings more engaging in general, I invite you

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<v Speaker 1>to send those my way to You can reach me

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<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E then

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<v Speaker 1>number four then Breakfast p O D. You can also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia

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<v Speaker 1>dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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<v Speaker 1>the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward to

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<v Speaker 1>staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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