How to Reduce Stress About Your Business’ Big Upcoming Meeting – and Increase Meeting Productivity b

You don’t have to be a full-time meeting planning to appreciate the scope of planning a large gathering for your company – and the stress related to getting it right. It costs a lot of a business’ money to rent a venue and give employees time off from their regular tasks at work to discuss company ventures and industry trends. Even if it’s mostly held via video chat, it still takes know-how and technical skill to make it all go off without a hitch. Your bosses want to make sure they’re getting a return on their investment for their quarterly or annual reviews or special product launches or other events.

It’s up to you to plan an event that meets all of your company’s objectives and to provide tangible proof of the event’s success to your company. That’s a lot to take on, especially if you have other tasks to accomplish during the weeks and months leading up to the event. Learn how to streamline planning and management of a large meeting before, during and after the event, and your stress levels will prove manageable so you’re up to the task. More importantly, with these tips, your meeting will prove a success.

Invest in an Online Results Measurement Service

How will your superiors know the money spent on the meeting was worthwhile, that they got a return on investment for their funds? You’ll have to track the effectiveness of the gathering with tangible data. An online results measurement service specifically tailored to large corporate meetings is your best bet.

Using this service, you’ll be able to track things such as benchmarks met during the meeting as well as surveys taken pre-meeting, onsite and after the meeting, which all lead to a return on event report. When you can rely on an online service to track this data for you and alert you when you need to follow up on certain aspects of the gathering, you’ll feel like the day is better organized and you have less to stress about.

Strategize Pre-Meeting

The best way to ensure a big gathering goes off without a hitch is to devote most of your attention to the pre-meeting phase. With the assistance of your online results measurement service, you’ll gather information from the important people behind the meeting, such as the sponsors and the department heads, or a small group of representatives. Using both online and offline pre-meetings and intelligently designed questionnaires, you’ll establish the most important goals and benchmarks you need to achieve during the big day. When you know what you have tangible goals before the big meeting, you’ll feel less worried about the meeting’s success.

Take Time to Relax

A stressed mind isn’t the best mind to lead and organize an event, even with the assistance of the perfect online service to ensure meeting success. If you feel overwhelmed, schedule small relaxation breaks into your day – and into the day of the big meeting. Find a quiet corner away from the chaos – even if it’s just a bathroom stall –and consciously count your breaths. Breathe slow and deeply and try to purge the stress of the planning out of your mind just for a few minutes. Even if a relaxation break takes a few precious moments out of your very busy day, you’ll prove more effective because of it, so it’s definitely worthwhile.

With an online results measurement service, not only will planning a big corporate gathering be more convenient and less time-consuming, it’ll also result in a more effective meeting. You’ll have actual data to show your bosses, and an actionable plan for the next gathering. Get a better return on your company’s investment and reduce your stress over planning it with the right tools.

About the Author: Shara Gibson is a meeting planner for a Fortune 500 company. She relies on MeetingMetrics to organize and analyze every large scale event.

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