OTSPC Newsletter #2 - Optimising Hybrid Meetings, Case Studies and More…
Hi Everyone,
I genuinely hope this newsletter finds you all feeling positive and testing negative.
It's funny how things orbit into and out of our world, isn't it? Covid is one of those things and so is the End of Financial Year, Tax Time and 'The Build Up' (for us in the Top End).
All things we have mixed emotions about.
Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with the End of Financial Year - I love closing off the books and the opportunity to look back and see the achievements and progress made working in and on my business but I am much better at words than numbers so perhaps my bookkeeping should be outsourced in the way that my clients outsource words to me…
I also have a love-hate relationship with the build-up. I hate the humidity, but I LOVE the rain that helps my tropical garden recover from the dry season.
The point is - we can both love and hate the things that happen in our lives, but the most important thing is to find the joy.
Being a small business owner can be like both abovementioned things - a mixed emotions affair. The good thing is that there are plenty of others that understand your complicated relationship with your business and it's great when you find others that you can talk with about that.
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You may or may not know that one of the services that On the Same Page Consulting offers is recruitment scribing. This work is more than just writing - it is about coordinating the process, providing advice to recruitment panels and supporting all of the stakeholders in the process to make sure that recruitment occurs in a timely way.
I also take minutes for several committees. I love this work - it is such a privilege to hear experts and advocates discussing important subjects. The passion and commitment that people show to these committees and working groups inspires me to be a better person and earthling in many ways.
Between these two processes in my business and my extensive experience in committees, boards and groups in many other roles, I have learned so much about optimising the experience of meeting participants. There are some very straightforward things that can be done to make the meeting experience more beneficial for both the experts and contributors in the 'room', but also those that are supporting the meeting as minute takers etc.
I think most of us are pretty good at doing in-person meetings. We know to put water on the table, to put the chair somewhere that everyone can see, to book a large enough meeting room and to send out the agenda and papers early enough for everyone to prepare.
But, for those of us who spend a fair portion of each month in hybrid (both in-person and virtual) meetings, there are a few extra things that need to be considered when technology is involved:
1. Have someone monitoring the virtual participants to allow them to contribute. It is awkward to keep trying to offer input when everyone misses the virtual hand-up or the gentle interjections of the virtual participants (especially if the volume is low on the system).
2. Position the camera somewhere that virtual participants can see the faces of the in-person participants. This helps to identify who is speaking and feels more inclusive to the online participants.
3. Make sure there are enough microphones in the room and encourage people to sit up to the table, not lean back as their voices don't always get picked up for the virtual participants.
4. Discourage multiple conversations - when listening online we don’t get to see who is talking and the microphone picks up all the noise, so make sure that you manage this.
5. If possible, avoid meeting rooms that have thin walls. Without the ability to watch faces, ambient noises can overwhelm the microphone sharing more of the background noise than the voices in the room.
These are just a few ideas of how to make an online or hybrid meeting work better. If you are interested in using a scribe for your committee or working group, let's have coffee or a short meeting to discuss. You can book in here.
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Do you have trouble finding or writing down the details of your previous events, projects, cases or contracts to use in tenders, quarterly or annual reports, grants or other documents?
Have you considered creating a template to make it easy for your project managers or leaders to record a case study?
I regularly see tenderers or grant applicants struggling to provide details for their case studies. This is necessary evidence of the great work you do every day.
Don't waste opportunities by leaving it to the last minute to collect case studies when it is hard to remember the specific challenges and outcomes of projects or contracts.
My tip this month is to create a template to record evidence about your projects, cases or contracts in an after-action review - as soon as they’re finished.
If you want a more detailed review, consider attending the Creating Compelling Case Studies Workshop I will be running in collaboration with Stevie Greenwood of ArticulateNT on 9 November 2023.
In this workshop, we will tell you how to easily create compelling case studies to lay your hands on at any time, for multiple uses.
We will also be sharing our framework for drafting a great case study.
In the meantime, if you need help recording, writing up or profiling your work, and don't have the time to write it yourself, let’s chat… OTSPC team members are great at capturing case studies.
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Do you want to have writing tips and a bit of a geek-out once a month? If so, you should subscribe to the Style Manual newsletter.
This is one of the very few newsletters I always read and it is a reference point for the On the Same Page Consulting team when unsure of style rules.
Check it out if you are not sure how to edit something or if you work for government.
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Did you know that one of the things we love writing is policies?
Do you have the right policies in place to guide your workers/team members, management and clients on where you stand on things like work health safety, quality, privacy or customer service?
If not, it’s not hard to get these in place. Contact us to find out how we can help you write policies right.
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Would you like to get together informally and talk about business, entrepreneurship and how to create value in your business through the written word? Register your interest in joining a group of people who are on the same page here.
Events
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NTAIC Grants
We have written and supported the writing of many of these and are very familiar with them. If you want assistance or just a quick chat, book a meeting.
Justice Reinvestment Grants
The Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department has recently released grants for community-led and designed Justice Reinvestment (JR) initiatives. These projects can be big or small. Check out more here.
Tenders
They come and go so quickly so here are links to the Commonwealth and NT Government sites so you can subscribe to get them in your inbox:
There are so many others to subscribe to, so check out this guide compiled by business.gov.au.
Follow Dante St James! Dante will connect you with many opportunities for networking and so much more. Dante is one of the few individuals who shares the raw facts of business. With vulnerability and humour, this Darwin businessperson’s musings and training will entertain, confront, and grow you and your business – whether you like it or not.
Dante is a huge feature of the NT's annual October Business Month mentioned earlier.
That’s all for this edition. Thanks for taking the time to read it. If there's anything you'd like to know more about, let's chat.
