Greetings!

Today is the 29th of February and I wanted to provide you with “bits of information” that you can use throughout the day in conversations about this special day.

The year 2008 is a leap year. If you look at a 2008 calendar, you will see that February has five Fridays–the month begins and ends on a Friday. Between the years 1904 and 2096, leap years that share the same day of week for each date repeat only every 28 years. The most recent year in which February comprised five Fridays was in 1980 and the next occurrence will be in 2036. February 29th has been associated with age-old traditions, superstitions and folklore.

A leap year is a year in which one extra day has been inserted, or intercalated, at the end of February. A leap year consists of 366 days, whereas other years, called common years, have 365 days.In the Julian calendar–introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and patterned after the Roman calendar–there was only one rule: any year divisible by four would be a leap year. This calendar was used before the Gregorian calendar was adopted.

Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the earth’s revolutions around the sun.

No calendars used today are perfect; they are off by seconds, minutes, hours or days every year. To make a calendar more accurate, new leap year rules have to be introduced to the Gregorian calendar, complicating the calculation of the calendar even more. It will, however, need some modifications in a few thousand years. As for the tropical year, it is approximately 365.242199 days, but varies from year to year because of the influence of other planets.

There you have it…

By the way, for anyone whose birthday is today, happy birtday!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Nyda

Greetings!

It is Friday, February 22, 2008, how many meetings have you attended this year? I am sure your answer was probably “so many I couldn’t even tell you”. How many were effective and how many were not effective? That number may be more easily definable.

Meetings are a way of life for most of us. They may be in person, teleconferences, video conferences, and interactive internet meetings. No matter the meeting setting, we must remember that our image is showing. No matter our role in the meeting, our image is showing.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak at a conference on this very subject. The first thing they discussed was ineffective meetings and how nothing happens during them. I could not write on the flipchart paper fast enough as they were firing words and phrases very rapidly. Then we discussed effective meetings and the group was much slower in responding. They knew what should happen but have not seen it enough to recognize it.

The description or agenda of a meeting sets the stage for what will happen, how it will happen etc. Too many meetings forget about this important aspect. Create an agenda using the word GOALS. GOALS stand for:

• G Goals of the meeting are specific such as we are going to meet to brainstorm on strategies to increase sales by 10%.

• O Outcomes….address what will happen, how people will interact. An example might be that we will use structured activities to collect ideas and then everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions and make comments on the ideas.

• A Activities serve as the blueprint for what will occur, who is responsible for each and the time allotted. An example would be to use structured exercises to collect, analyze, and create action steps for ideas.

• L Logistics provide people information they need to succeed including the location where they will meet, what to bring, and how to prepare. Add a little humor if desired and let them know they need to bring a lollipop or a funny hat.

• S Strategies include meeting with key participants to access support or opposition; uncover obstacles, and make sure that each member is ready to contribute to the meeting.

What is an approach you use that helps to create effective meetings? What have been some of the worst and best meetings that you witnessed?
Enjoy the weekend!
Nyda

Greetings,

It is Friday, February 22, 2008, how many meetings have you attended this year? I am sure your answer was probably “so many I couldn’t even tell you”. How many were effective and how many were not effective? That number may be more easily definable.
Meetings are a way of life for most of us. They may be in person, teleconferences, video conferences, and interactive internet meetings. No matter the meeting setting, we must remember that our image is showing. No matter our role in the meeting, our image is showing.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak at a conference on this very subject. The first thing they discussed was ineffective meetings and how nothing happens during them. I could not write on the flipchart paper fast enough as they were firing words and phrases very rapidly. Then we discussed effective meetings and the group was much slower in responding. They knew what should happen but have not seen it enough to recall.

The description or agenda of a meeting sets the stage for what will happen, how it will happen etc. Too many meetings forget about this important aspect. Create an agenda using the word GOALS. GOALS stand for:
Ø      G   Goals of the meeting should be specific such as we are going to meet to brainstorm on strategies to increase sales by 10%.
Ø      O   Outcomes….address what will happen, how people will interact. An example might be that we will use structured activities to collect ideas and then everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions and make comments on the ideas.
Ø      A    Activities serve as the blueprint for what will occur, who is responsible for each and the time allotted. An example would be to use structured exercises to collect, analyze, and create action steps for ideas or each participant will have three minutes to provide a status report on their project.

Ø      L    Logistics provide people information they need to succeed including the location where they will meet, what to bring, and how to prepare. Add a little humor sometimes and let them know they need to bring a lollipop or a funny hat.
Ø      S    Strategies include meeting with key participants to access support or opposition; uncover obstacles, and make sure that each member is ready to contribute to the meeting.
What is an approach you use that helps to create effective meetings? What have been some of the worst and best meetings that you have witnessed?
Enjoy the weekend!
Nyda