How to Lead a Meeting: Effective Strategies from an Expert

Have you ever considered that well-executed, productive meetings can significantly contribute to professional success and the accomplishment of your objectives and projects?

Meetings are a ubiquitous business practice across all industries globally. However, they are also a leading cause of stress, frustration, and anxiety, potentially impeding your path to success. This is often due to participants feeling undervalued, meetings failing to yield meaningful outcomes, and missed opportunities to advance projects and showcase skills.

Thankfully, Unleash Your Meeting Potential™ has been developed to equip you for success. This program furnishes you with the necessary knowledge and best practices to adeptly strategize, lead, and follow up on meetings that consistently deliver substantial value.

The course thoroughly covers all essential activities to maximize meeting effectiveness, introducing a simple, practical approach known as The 3 Step Meeting Framework™, applicable across various industries such as healthcare, finance, automotive, legal, manufacturing, transportation, construction, research, energy, IT, aerospace, and communications.

Upon completing this course, you will possess the expertise to revolutionize your meetings, achieve mastery in conducting them, and leverage these skills to propel your projects and career to new heights.

I would like to extend an invitation for you to watch the complimentary preview videos to familiarize yourself with the level of detail provided in this program, which covers:

• Defining the purpose, objectives, and expected outcomes of your meetings
• Identifying and inviting the appropriate participants
• Selecting the most suitable meeting format to enhance participant engagement
• Managing meeting logistics and establishing a clear meeting schedule
• Creating an efficient meeting agenda and preparing for the meeting in advance with clear expectations for effective discussions
• Leading and facilitating productive meetings with your stakeholders
• Documenting crucial decisions, action items, and next steps in comprehensive meeting minutes that can be shared
• Developing follow-up communications and ensuring participants are held accountable for their action items
• And much more...

Introduction to Your Course Instructor

I am Natalie Berkiw-Scenna, and I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to Unleash Your Meeting Potential™!

Professional Background

• I am a senior-level project management consultant (PMP) with over 22 years of experience, during which I have facilitated numerous highly effective meetings.
• My book, Unleash Your Meeting Potential™: A Comprehensive Guide to Leading Effective Meetings, is available at bookstores worldwide.
• I have shared my expertise with students in multiple Masters of Business (MBA) programs at various universities and colleges in Canada and the United States.

Speaking Engagements

I have also had the privilege of presenting this material at conferences and educational events, including the International Project Management Day Conference 2021 hosted by the International Institute for Learning.

Innovative Methodology

I have developed The 3 Step Meeting Framework™, an easy and efficient approach designed to spare you from years of trial and error, and to equip you for success.

Call to Action

Are you prepared to revolutionize your approach to meetings? If your answer is “YES!”, then it's time to take the next step. Join me on this transformative journey today! I eagerly anticipate welcoming you personally to the Unleash Your Meeting Potential™ program. I look forward to meeting you inside the course. See you soon!

If you’re required to lead meetings at work, you’ll find this course is designed for you. Roles such as consultants, project managers, engineers, business analysts, strategists, managers and team leaders, sales or administrative professionals, improvement experts, and students preparing for employment will find this to be ideal for you.

1. "Highly professional and valuable course! Additional thanks for the downloadable material!" ~ Vitalii Baglaiev
2. "This course was a perfect match for me, I learnt a lot. Thanks Ma'am" ~ Julius Gamy
3. "The material in this course will be invaluable to me as I organize my future meetings with much more attention than I have in the past. I look forward to my meetings being more effective because of this knowledge. Thank you for this excellent educational opportunity Natalie!" ~ Christine Wells
4. "This course has really opened my eyes to the opportunities that a well planned meeting can have. Everything is very clearly laid out and the companion workbook is very helpful." ~ Ron Leblanc
5. "This course taught me important, new concepts while also reminding me of the basics needed for a well planned meeting. My meetings have been running much more smoothly since taking this course. Thank you Natalie for all of your valuable insights!" ~ Jean Beaton
6. "This course was AMAZING!! I have been facilitating meetings for over 10 years and cannot believe how many pieces I have missed. After taking this course I was able to lead far more successful meetings but most importantly I have been leading meetings with tangible outcomes and results!!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you Natalie for making this course engaging, fun, exciting and providing me with the tools I needed to oush my career to the next level!!! I have been applying so many of your tips and tricks and have already had executives tell me how much they appreciate the effort I put in!!! I highly recommend anyone one who is new to facilitating meetings or even a seasoned professional to take this course! You won't be disappointed and it really will set you apart!!!" ~ Christine Iellamo
7. This is an excellent course. I’m fairly new at leading meetings which has caused me some stress and frustration. This course has given me an abundance of knowledge in the entire process of leading a successful meeting (which can at times be daunting). I definitely recommend this course to anyone who is looking to improve the effectiveness of their meetings and gain a new confidence in their career. The video lessons were brimming with many great tips and advice. Natalie has clearly put a lot of time and effort into this course." ~ Humberto M

Upon completion of this course, you will have all of the knowledge you need to transform your meetings, reach a level of meeting mastery, and use these skills to take your projects and career to new heights.

1. Defining your meeting purpose, objectives, and expected outcomes.
2. Identifying the right people to invite, and determining the right format for your meeting.
3. Identifying the logistics and developing a clear meeting appointment.
4. Developing a clear, sequenced agenda, and any other resources and tools for the meeting.
5. Circulating a pre-meeting communication and package to set expectations and prepare your participants.
6. Setting up your meeting for success and leading a highly effective discussion.
7. Developing meeting minutes, a summary or action log to track the discussion, actions, and next steps.
8. Circulating a follow-up meeting communications and package to hold everyone accountable.
9. Evaluating your meeting outcomes and process, and applying your lessons learned going forward.

In this course, you'll be required to complete a series of videos that walk you through all the sequenced steps and activities you should do before, during, and after a meeting to set yourself up for success. A workbook is available to you to follow along, and an optional quiz you can complete at the end to help reinforce your learning.