Summary: Into the Heart of Meetings defines meetings as a form of communication. It describes the characteristic processes of meetings and how to influence them through Meeting Design. Based on many years of working together as professional Meeting Designers, the authors provide an array of tools that enable meeting organisers to obtain the best outcomes from their meetings as measured by their business value. Into the Heart of Meetings is also the first book ever about Meeting Design. Through their company MindMeeting, over the past 10-20 years the authors have given shape to this new profession. They introduce the principles underlying Meeting Design, as well as the main practical issues that Meeting Designers face and need to solve. The authors use countless examples, connecting their writing to daily working practice. Thus Into the Heart of Meetings is an explorative study, a textbook and a practical guide in one. Further details: Meetings - conferences, conventions, seminars, workshops, etc. - are an integral part of daily life in organisations. In this book, the authors argue that the potential of such meetings is severely under-utilised for a number of reasons. One of these is that the organisation of meetings is conceived mainly as a logistical operation. Into the Heart of Meetings shows that this approach misses the point with regard to the communicative value and power of meetings. The power of meetings depends on the human dynamics they are capable of unleashing. To accomplish that effectively requires a new paradigm for the way in which meeting programmes are conceived and executed. Meeting Design provides that new paradigm and the authors discuss all the basic knowledge a Meeting Designer needs to possess. Hence the book's subtitle Basic Principles of Meeting Design. The book combines a theoretical framework with a great many examples and practical tools. As a result, it is not only useful for professionals in the Meetings Industry, but also for managers and consultants who use meetings as a means to achieve their goals. Areas where the book's subject matter is particularly pertinent include strategic and change management, Human Resources management, knowledge management, innovation and business communications. The relatively informal style and the numerous cases make Into the Heart of Meetings an easy read. The iconic illustrations underline the authors' messages admirably. At the end of each chapter the preceding content is approached from a different angle in a - fictitious - conversation between the authors and a "sceptic", thus underlining the practical implications of the topic treated in the previous pages. In the absence of any formal educational curricula on Meeting Design, Into the Heart of Meetings yet provides ample material for university and professional training courses in such fields as communications, event management and organisation, conference and meeting management and organisation and facilitation. Also trainers in adult education and organisational change agents will find many useful insights. The lecturers for the minor event management (part of a degree in Communications at NHL in the Netherlands) have already adopted the book as compulsory reading material for their students, while two more educational institutions have also expressed an interest in doing so even before the book has been published.

This book will change your mind forever about that "useless" meeting you are forced to attend. Paul Axtell emphasizes that meetings are vital to the work of successful organizations--we need to master the skill sets for designing, leading, and participating in meetings. A consultant with more than 30 years in the business, Axtell outlines 8 strategies with a host of compelling ideas you can put into action immediately. This is a book for the manager who recognizes that meetings are at the core of the work you do, the supervisor who wants to be wonderful to work for, the employee who wants to contribute as much as possible, the project leader who wants every team meeting to add velocity to the project. Meetings are essential. So let's make them work.

A straightforward framework for creating engaging and exciting business meetings Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life. In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch. “How could my life have unraveled so quickly?” he wondered. In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary. Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve. And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice. His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings. Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen. As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams and create environments of engagement and passion.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An extraordinary, harrowing, endlessly surprising novel set in 1946, starring two brothers and a Jewish girl who fall into alignment in pogrom-poised Moscow—from "one of the most gifted novelists of his generation” (Time). “A bullet train of a novel that barrels deep into the heart of darkness that was the Soviet gulag and takes the reader along on an unnerving journey into one of history’s most harrowing chapters.” —The New York Times The brothers' fraternal conflict then marinates in Norlag, a slave-labor camp above the Arctic Circle, where a tryst will haunt all three lovers long after the brothers are released. And for the narrator, the sole survivor, the reverberations continue into the new century.

No organization made up of human beings is immune from the all-too-common meeting gripes: those that fail to engage, those that inadvertently encourage participants to tune out, and those that blatantly disregard participants' time. In The Surprising Science of Meetings, Steven G. Rogelberg draws from extensive research, analytics and data mining, and survey interviews to share the proven techniques that help managers and employees change the way they run meetings and upgrade the quality of their working hours.

Use eye-popping visual tools to energize your people! Just as social networking has reclaimed the Internet for human interactivity and co-creation, the visual meetings movement is reclaiming creativity, productivity, and playful exchange for serious work in groups. Visual Meetings explains how anyone can implement powerful visual tools, and how these tools are being used in Silicon Valley and elsewhere to facilitate both face-to-face and virtual group work. This dynamic and richly illustrated resource gives meeting leaders, presenters, and consultants a slew of exciting tricks and tools, including Graphic recording, visual planning, story boarding, graphic templates, idea mapping, etc. Creative ways to energize team building, sales presentations, staff meetings, strategy sessions, brainstorming, and more Getting beyond paper and whiteboards to engage new media platforms Understanding emerging visual language for leading groups Unlocking formerly untapped creative resources for business success, Visual Meetings will help you and your team communicate ideas more effectively and engagingly.

Based on his extensive counseling work with the terminally ill, a bestselling author offers unique support to anyone facing the dying process. This book integrates death into the context of life with compassion, skill, and hope. Capturing the range of emotions and challenges that accompany the dying process, Stephen Levine shares his wisdom to readers dealing with this difficult experience.

Do your conference programs contain sessions you belatedly discover were of little interest or value to most attendees? If so, you're wasting significant stakeholder and attendee time and money - your conference is simply not as good as it could be. Now imagine you knew how to create conference programs that reliably include the sessions and session content attendees actually want and need. How much value would that add to your event, for your attendees, your sponsors, and your bottom line? Event Crowdsourcing: Creating Meetings People Actually Want and Need shows you how to create conference programs and sessions that reliably become what your attendees want and need. The product of over 25 years of participant-driven meeting design experience, Event Crowdsourcing clearly explains everything you need to know to successfully integrate effective real-time event crowdsourcing into your programs and sessions. Buy Event Crowdsourcing to learn: Why it's so important to create conference programs and sessions that attendees want and need. When to use event crowdsourcing for your meetings and sessions. How to choose the right crowdsourcing approach for your specific needs. Event Crowdsourcing contains: A comprehensive compendium of crowdsourcing techniques that will radically improve your meetings. Clear descriptions of the preparation and resources needed to ensure successful implementation. Detailed implementations for each technique, including sample scripts and options to cover your specific needs. "Adrian Segar's first two books - Conferences That Work and The Power of Participation - have had a resoundingly positive impact on the meeting industry. Now, meeting planners and meeting-goers can further benefit from his newest book: Event Crowdsourcing. This book, both a why-to and a how-to, is jam-packed with proven guidelines, techniques, and suggested scripts to help you design conferences and sessions that are what attendees want and need. It's clearly organized and beautifully written, and I'm happy to recommend it." - Naomi Karten, author of Managing Expectations, Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals, and other books "Actually giving attendees what they want and need instead of what you think they want? What a concept! Adrian Segar has done it again. Event Crowdsourcing is chock-full of detailed descriptions of low-tech, low-cost solutions that get to the core concerns of meeting-goers from any industry. It's a must read for any meeting planner!" -Brandt Krueger, technical producer, educator, speaker, and event technology consultant "For meeting designers like us, Adrian's work is priceless. He meticulously documents all there is to understand about crowdsourcing, participation, peer-to-peer working, and empowerment of conference audiences. His unique views on these topics make it easy to recognize his training as a former physicist, his facilitation skills, and his belief in what we humans can achieve together." -Eric de Groot and Mike van der Vijver, meeting designers with MindMeeting, and authors of Into the Heart of Meetings "Adrian Segar is a leader in crafting the future of meetings. Event Crowdsourcing is the go-to tactical guide for planners to allow attendees to create their own meaningful experiences. In a world where everyone is talking about why events need to generate connection and engagement, Adrian has written the how-to guide for you." -Will Curran, founder, Endless Events, and #EventIcons, Event Tech, and Event Brew podcast host

Meetings allow us to bring people together to inspire each other, solve problems and make a difference. Yet, we all spend too much time in dull, frustrating meetings where little is achieved and even less is followed up on afterwards. In Hold Successful Meetings, executive coach and former Google leader Caterina Kostoula will change all this. Her unique framework will: - Equip you to hold fewer, more purposeful meetings - Create a creative and inclusive environment - Leave participants inspired and ready to take action Whether virtual or in-person, people will leave your meetings inspired by the value you created together and ready to make an impact. 'I bought this for my whole team at Google!' Reader review

"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.