What Makes an Effective Web Conference? Part 2

Knowing if you’ve achieved your objectives.

Last time we discussed the true definition of an effective web meeting. You know that in order to have an effective web conference, you don’t need to find the best web conferencing product on the market, you need to find the best web conferencing product that helps you achieve your objective.

Great, so now what? How do you know you’ve achieved that objective?

You may leave a meeting feeling like it was really good, but in reality you don’t know if it was an effective meeting. It’s too early to know if you’ve met your objectives.

Here’s a shocker – meetings don’t solve problems.

Actions solve problems. Because actions happen further down the road, we don’t know if our objective was meet until later. Meetings are measured by lagging indicators of success.

Was the marketing plan successful? You have to wait until the plan has been put into action and review the metrics.

Were the new hires correctly trained? You have to wait and see if they successfully perform their job duties.

In order to know if a meeting was effective, you have to know that the correct actions were put into place during your meeting. To know the correct actions, you have to work backwards from the desired result.

Reverse engineer your success.

Take a look at the problem you need to solve. Identify and articulate what the desired outcome should be. Think of a way you can measure success. Then visualize all the actions that need to happen in order for that desired outcome to become a reality.

In other words, decide what you need to do and create a path to get you there.

According to several studies, athletes can literally improve their physical performance by visualizing what success looks like and imagining the steps it takes to get there. As you plan meetings, select products, choose teammates and assign tasks, visualize how these actions will help you down that path.

If you’re always striving towards an objective, you will have effective meetings.

One of two things will happen. You’ll have a meeting that takes you further down the path to your objective. Great! Or you’ll have a meeting that takes you off your path. Oh well, at least you know! You’re not flying blind like those who are meeting just because it seems like a good idea. You’ll be able to learn from your mistakes, because you’ll be able to identify them sooner. You’ll be able to make corrections, increasing the likelihood of success. And in the end, if you don’t achieve your objective, you’ll be better positioned to make it happen next time.

You may not always know if you’ve met your objectives right after a meeting, but if you visualize success and work towards your objective every step of the way, you’ll know if you are on the right path.

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