If you’re presenting a meeting – whether to attract new business, or for existing clients who want to get a sense of your business environment – there are a few things you need to consider carefully. A meeting isn’t just about the meeting of two groups or individuals; instead, it’s more of an art in getting tone, setting, presentation and equipment all right to create the perfect impression of your business and your products and services. So, what’s the magic formula to the perfect meeting?

Knowing Your Audience

Before you can start planning anything, you need to understand your audience inside and out. To do this, review any previous correspondence you’ve had with them to establish their needs. Next, consult any internal documentation you might have regarding the client and try to build up a picture of what they’re going to expect from the meeting. Once you’ve got a mental image of what your audience is going to want from the meeting, you can then begin planning.

Selective Setting

The first part of the planning stage is one of the most important ones. Essentially it involves consulting all the notes you’ve made about your audience and then matching them with a suitable meeting location. If your audience is based in London and the meeting could result in a sale (or at least bring you closer to one), it could be a good idea to find a meeting place in the capital. You also need to consider the type of meeting venue – will a pub do? What about an online meeting using a service like Google Hangouts? Or do you need a bespoke meeting room like those offered by a company like LEO? The perfect space is the one both best-matched to your audience, and to your budget.

Presentation of the People

Once you have the suitable space in which to hold your meeting, you need to gather the right people. You may think that taking everybody who’s been involved with the audience in whatever capacity would be the best idea, but actually, you don’t only need to consider who the most knowledgeable people are for the meeting, you also need to think about the people who will be the best fit with your audience. If they are technical people, bring technical people to the interview, for example.

The Equipment You Use

As well as the right people, you need to bring along the right equipment. If your audience have resources available that will only be viewable on a Mac, ensure you bring a mac to your meeting, for example.

Ultimately, if you can get the above factors right, you should be able to implement a successful meeting.

Photo credit: Baltic Development Forum