I am fairly new to the PMP community, so this will be my first post. I'm hoping for some guidance I have regarding managing meetings regarding a project.
If you are assigned as the PM and are expected to lead a call or client meeting on a project, what are your best practices to prepare for it? Does anyone have any tips or best strategies to use on how to prepare for questions that might be asked by clients about your project such as status and scope? What are the best ways to make yourself come across as confident and prepared for such meetings?
I know there are some guidelines out there on meeting preparation including from the PMBOK guide, but it would be great to get some personal perspective from other PMs based on your experience.
I certainly recommend preparing for the call by reviewing the current project status, speaking with the team to confirm things and so on, but don't hesitate to say "let me get back to you on that" if you are hit with a question that you aren't sure about. Stakeholders might want you to be all-knowing but they will be more frustrated if you guess or pretend to know something you don't.
The lesson that I learned that you need to have a time limit and clear agenda for the meeting. circulating the agenda. Asking stakeholders to suggest points is also good practice as long as you can fit it and within the concept of the meeting. Many side issues you can sort it out one to one, you need to identify those. You need as well to get your numbers ready. I print the following for circulating by the table: minutes of the last meeting, agenda, status reports, many stakeholders will show up without preparation. One more thing, please try to get them engaged and (entertained).
Review your communication plan, It is essential in your communication plan to know which stakeholders to invite and what type of information you are distributing.
The frequency of meetings, review your communication plan (Not so many meetings) and manage your time very well during the meeting. Saving Changes...
Bogdan-George BradManaging Director| Ultra Grup SolutionsIasi, Iasi, Romania
Hello Gianandrea,
Welcome to the PMP community!
Any meeting has a leader – the stakeholders, client or sponsor expects you to be that person especially when it’s about the project you manage or will manage.
Here are some ideas that will help you to send across participants the right signals.
Before and at the start of the meeting provide participants with the agenda and the meeting objective.
Make sure to invite only required participants, no more, no less.
Lead the meeting to meet all objectives and to keep the meeting on track.
Do your best for the meeting to start and finish on time.
If subjects outside the scope of the meeting arise - note and table them.
Listen other without interrupting, giving all opinions professional respect.
If post meeting activities are necessary, define during the meeting: next steps, responsibilities and deadlines.
The meeting ends with a “thank you” to all participants.
Make sure to distribute a summary of meeting results.
None of the above will work unless you are familiar with the project status. If you just started on this project I would suggest spending time with your project team and understand the project.
If you are assigned on a project that must be recovered present a list of short term corrective actions (based on your project analysis and project team feedback).
Good luck at the meeting! Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
There is one and only one mostly forgotten: meeting must be planned. You have to put on a piece of paper the meeting objectives and the time slice and activities you will perform into each time slice to achieve the objective. Saving Changes...
1. Define your agenda 2. know your stakeholders, 3. anticipate their questions based on 1 and 2. Saving Changes...
John ClayProject Manager| Minnesota IT ServicesSt. Paul, Mn, United States
Make sure you know in your own head and heart what the meeting is for and what it means to the project. Is it a working meeting where a problem has to be tackled and steps taken toward a solution? Or is the meeting an opportunity to build awareness, to inform stakeholders about the project and why the product is important? I can always prepare thoroughly and present confidently when I have a clear vision of why I think this meeting matters to the project and what I need us to accomplish. When you "own" the meeting, you actually become more fully a servant of the vision, project, and team. You become more selfless, less self-conscious, and more focused on what needs to get done. I am also a big believer in the advice Kiron offered: Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know the answer but I'll find out and get that information to you." Saving Changes...
Ravi DubeyVice President Engineering| Truminds Software SystemsNew Delhi, Delhi, India
1. Plan in advance, float the agenda, so that people can come prepared with any queries and any responses to expected queries in advance
2. If it is weekly or something, then ask for updates "offline" 1-2 days before and share the updated version of the Actions, at least 1 day "BEFORE" the meeting, so that time is not wasted in extracting updates
3. Ensure that all people on the meeting feel "involved" and not just forced "hearing" - have separate smaller discussions if needed
4. If you are expecting discussions on any topic for which there is advance material, please float at least 1-2 days in advance and ask people to be explicitly prepared and NOT read it during meeting time. Saving Changes...
Hi everyone. These tips and guidelines are very useful! I'm going to be sure to refer to this thread very often particularly when I have a call/meeting coming that I will need to head. Thanks so much for this wonderful input!! Saving Changes...
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but rather, 'hmm.... that's funny...'"
