The Meeting Before the Meeting

What time does a meeting start? The agenda may start at a specific moment (give or take 10 minutes, in my sad experience), but you can be very productive in the minutes before a meeting actually begins.

Those of us who are always early know this. In fact, we’re early for two reasons. One is that we hate seeing people running in from the parking lot in a furious frenzy, having been held up by traffic, feeling unprepared and disheveled. Instead, we early arrivers are sitting quietly and calmly, reviewing our notes, the agenda, or our presentations. But not always.

The second reason to arrive early is to meet and greet the other people in the room. In many meetings, arriving early means you get to choose your seat. You can decide to make the acquaintance of someone influential in the group, or someone who just looks interesting. You get a chance to improve your small talk skills or ask a stimulating question about the project or the news of the day.

Starting up conversations is a way of displaying your social confidence and sharing your good ideas. I once spent a long training day early in my career next to a woman I wasn’t familiar with. On the breaks and in pauses during presentations, I chatted her up about the training topic and wasn’t shy about sharing my ideas.

It turns out that she was a regional executive (we just used first names on the name cards we filled out) with decision-making authority over a newly created position. I was her first choice for the promotion because of our conversations, kicking off a very exciting 20-year career. (If you’re reading, Lois – thanks again.) It’s a powerful incentive for putting down your phone and engaging actual humans during training sessions and conferences and before meetings start.

Some of the most important members of your network will come from outside your normal circle of friends and co-workers. They will extend the reach and influence of your career by connecting you to people and resources – and opportunities –  you might not find on your own.

Try arriving 10 minutes early for your next meeting. Sit down next to a stranger and start up a conversation. You never know what might happen.

“The business of business is relationships; the business of life is human connection.”

-Robin S. Sharma