Wired Presentations

Fans welcome tired swimmers to the beach

When a guest shows up at your club meeting, how do you treat them? If your organization is like most, one or two of your members will make the cursory introduction while the majority doesn’t make an effort. In fact, most people will not acknowledge that there is a guest even there.

What kind of message does that send to your visitor? The answer to that question is obvious. It sends the wrong message. You are telling the guest that they don’t really matter.

The message that you want to send is, “Hey, we want you to be one of us!”

Here are 5 ways you can make a visitor feel like they belong:

1) Everyone, and I mean everyone, acts excited when a guest takes the risk of attending your meeting. You goal here is to make them feel the love. Done properly there should be no way for the visitor to remember the names of all the people they met. There should be, literally, a line of people waiting to meet the guest.

2) Announce their presence during the meeting. “Let’s welcome Bob to our meeting. Bob is a computer programmer on finance team. Bob, we thank you for taking time to attend our meeting.”

3) After the meeting ask the guest if they have any questions. If they do, answer them. If they don’t, make sure they know what the club is all about. Ask them why they attended and then describe how the club can help them.

Tell them about Web site or give them a flyer. At this point someone in the club should make sure they have the guest’s contact information. Make certain you include the mailing address.

4) Tell the guest how the club can benefit from having them as a member. This is perhaps the most important thing that you can do. People need to feel valued and this is a great way to do it. Do not skip this. Do not be vague about this. “Our club would really benefit from having you join. We currently have no members with your background and we could learn a lot from you.”

5) Follow up with a hand written thank you note. There is nothing, NOTHING, like receiving a hand written note. It just makes you feel great to get one. Here’s a huge secret: as good as it is to get one, it feels even better to write one. Make it a part of your organization’s processes.

If you don’t make an effort to let your guests know that you value them they will leave thinking that you don’t want them in your club. Don’t let that happen. You want them to feel like “one of us.”

“What’s a manager’s job?” I was somewhat taken aback by the question for two reasons. One, I am not a manager. And, two, Alan and I weren’t talking about management or managers or leadership. Still, it’s a great question. Without much thought I replied, “To make his (or her) people better.”

A lot of people will pay lip-service to the development of employees, but when push comes to shove it often goes by the wayside. There are many reasons for this — strangled budgets or perceived lack of time. There are lots more, I am sure.

Just between you and me I don’t rely on my manager, and I have an outstanding manager, to plan my training or personal development. Heck, I have even taken a job just to learn a specific skill (i.e. course development and training). As Alan and I discussed this further I asked this question.

Why don’t we individual contributors have group meetings and don’t invite the managers?

Think about it. You can learn from and teach others in your group all sorts of things. When management is present at a meeting most of us peons are rather reserved. We tend not to be forthright and open. This is bad. Openness between the members of a group leads to trust and reliance. You know that others will help you when you need it. Keith Ferrazzi’s book, “Who’s Got Your Back” doesn’t specifically address this concept but it is close enough. With a little work it can be applied to the Managerless Group Meeting.

I discussed this idea with one of my younger coworkers this morning. She liked it. She even mentioned that this would be a great environment for learning presentation skills. Hummmmmm… I think that I like where this is going.