No matter how much we despise them, meetings are a necessary evil in any business or project. We have to meet with our clients and team members to discuss projects, we have to meet with prospects in order to move closer to a sale, we have to meet with our accountants and lawyers to make sure we are doing what is necessary within the eyes of the law and finally, we have to attend networking meetings so that we can make contacts with people that will eventually result in more meetings later. Sheesh! How in the world do we have the time to actually RUN our video businesses? Here's a few tips that will help you be more productive in meetings and will help you decide whether or not a meeting is even necessary:

A good rule of thumb regarding meetings is that you should always attempt to meet in person when you are soliciting a qualified prospect or when you are kicking off a project with a new client.
It also makes sense in most cases to personally attend client approval sessions. Every other meeting between the beginning of a relationship or project and the end of the project should be handled in the most efficient manner possible for both you (the producer) and your client. Your time is valuable and wasting it in pointless meetings can be mentally draining and can hurt your overall profitability. (More time in meetings equals less time producing work!)

When someone requests a meeting with you or when you plan to make the request, ask yourself the following:

1. Can this matter of business be effectively and efficiently handled over the phone or via email?
If the nature of the meeting is to simply discuss a few minor issues that need resolution, a phone call or series of quick emails should suffice.

2. Can it be handled a few minutes before or after another meeting that both parties will be attending in the near future. 
If you are already planning ot attend a networking lunch across town and the person you need to meet with is also planning to attend that luncheon, call or email them to ask if you can meet with them for a few minutes before or after the networking luncheon.

If you determine that the meeting is one that you absolutely must attend in person, here's a few ways to make sure you get the most out of your time investment:

1. Make sure the meeting has an agenda that outlines what you or the client hopes to accomplish during the meeting.
If the agenda is long, ask the person you will be meeting with if they'd like to break up the meeting into two separate meeting dates. Or, if they'd like to meet before lunch for a while, take a lunch break, then meet after lunch for a while. If you are provided with an agenda, review it and determine how much time you think it will take to complete the meeting. If you feel like it will run a lot longer than you can spare in a single day, ask to break it up into a couple of meetings or to split the day with a lunch break. I've learned over the years that meetings are only productive up to 1 hour. Anything past that and everyone starts to get tired and the overall quality of the meeting starts to diminish pretty rapidly. 

2. Whenever you attend a meeting, make sure the other party understands that you have a time that you must leave the meeting. "I have another meeting at 3pm so I'll have to leave at 2:45pm. If we need more time than that, I'm happy to reschedule for anything we aren't able to get to today." This will help everyone stay focused for the duration of the meeting so that all or most of the business can be handled in the time you have allocated.

Occasionally, when you meet with several people in the same company at the same time, other business matters will bleed into your conversation. For instance, you are there to talk about the video portion of an upcoming all management meeting. Since all the players are in the same room at the same time, they start to discuss other logistics for the same event like catering, graphics for the programs, transportation to/from the venue, etc. Anytime you detect that this may happen, diffuse it by telling everyone how much time you have before you have to leave the meeting. This works wonders for getting everyone back on track and will result in less of your time wasted.

Meetings are a necessary part of business. Just remember that the more time you spend in meetings, the less time you have to actually produce the work. Do your best to keep everything in balance so that you are effecient, effective and as profitable as possible.

Read similar articles at http://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com.

Kris's Background

Kristopher G. Simmons (Kris) is the President & CEO of Fire Eye Productions, Inc., a video/multimedia/webcasting production company located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Prior to founding Fire Eye Productions, Inc., he worked as a freelance producer, director, videographer and editor for several independent video production companies throughout the southeastern United States. In 2004, he was selected as Tennessee's SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year and over the years has won multiple Addy Awards from the Advertising Federation and 3 International Videographer Awards for excellence in video production. He currently serves on the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Digital Video Professionals Association Board of Directors, the Chattanooga Technology Council Board of Directors and is a member of the Chattanooga Downtown Rotary Club.