How do you prepare for office meetings and events?

In my experience a through agenda will make or break a meeting. You should not only have topics for your agenda but also time guidelines so as to stay on task. Teams has a wonderful notes function that allows you to add your agenda as well as take notes and create task during your meeting.

"What's in it for me?" If this question is not clearly answered then we might expect absences or a majority of attendees who just like to remain out of the office as often as possible.... If there is no good answer to this question for an attendee, then why would we expect them to participate (unless "mandatory"... the 'worst kind'.)

Being proactive and having a checklist of items to be on the agenda as well as what may need to be set up food, powerpoint, copies, AV. Sending reminders to attendees of the agenda and what they need to report on or have sent to me in advance for presentations is essential. Asking for assistance from support EA's to work along with me to assure we have every area covered is also very helpful and helps with avoiding stress. Arriving an hour early to insure everything is in place can help. Having a plan B for last minute emergencies doesn't hurt.

Having a moderator(s) who provides opportunities to give participants input during meetings allowing formats that are inclusive for those who are timid, to gather all sort of opinions. Setting of rules for interaction, whether during or after Q&A, and respective organization (microphones, paper notes, facilitators who gather those). Repeat questions so that everyone can listen it, not only hear panelist answer.

One thing to also consider when choosing a venue is parking. If the venue doesn't offer free on-site parking, providing a map to available parking options is a nice touch. You can also notify those attending the event in advance whether parking is free, will be validated, or if they'll be responsible to pay.

You should also ask if there is another event happening in the venue area at the same time as your event. They may have a marching band featured as their intro that will interrupt your event.

I often create a custom Google Map (using Google My Maps) and lay out specifically where public parking is available, where to enter the building, etc. So often, the people we invite to meetings are not familiar with our local venue(s), so I like to offer as much information as possible to help them arrive on time and stress free. I've been lost and late to way too many meetings where this important information was not provided, but would have made a huge different to my day.

I believe this to be the most important step in preparing for meetings, as it speaks to one's professionalism to have all materials prepared in advance and all equipment tested and ready for use. In the past, I have seen people scrambling to put materials together, complete presentations, and troubleshooting equipment while attendees sigh in frustration, or worse, leave because they believe their time to be too valuable to wait for preparations that should have been done beforehand.

You should also make sure that your speakers and those who are introducing them meet one another and learn to pronounce their names. I've seen several people introducing speakers and mispronouncing their names.

I find I start thinking through meetings weeks in advance. I avoid last-minute planning and considerations as much as possible. The more "planning" we do in advance, the less likely to go wrong.

Evaluate the results: As you celebrate a successful event, meeting, conference, etc. Remember to debrief with your team/department and provide post-event reporting for the team as well as the stakeholders. Look at different data (attendance, NPS scores, time spent executing the event) and analytics to measure the event’s performance.

It’s implied but documenting the event materials and documentation of the event, including evaluation “lessons learned” (etc.) should be filed away for future reference.