Dedicated to the lost and confused Account Executives.
Sinking to the chair, Annie gulped while trying to plug the connector to her laptop several times. The “no signal” seemed like it was glued on the projector screen. She didn’t look up but she could feel the anxiety aura from her supervisor, who had asked her “you checked on everything right?” and she nodded. But the worst is yet to come, right at that moment, they heard the staccato beat of high heels hitting on the marble floor echoed on a cold granite wall down the corridor, signaling the arrival of the You-Know-Who of this agency.
Today, Annie’s team was going to share a pivotal strategy to the CEO - who was described as the Tiger boss - meticulous, sharp and demanding. Last week, the supervisor had to compete with other team leaders to get a 1-hour slot for this presentation. Yet, when the CEO was ready on her seat, there was nothing to show but a pure black screen. The supervisor broke the awkward silence by saying sorry for the technical error and urged Annie to check another room or call for IT support. She held her breath, darted through the door, left behind the stare-of-death from the Tiger boss.
It took Annie 20 mins to solve the cable problem, which could have been checked before. She sighed, feeling guilty because her boss had to cut the presentation short to commit to the schedule.
Annie is not the only one who errs and overlooks meeting preparation. I was Annie and I have seen a lot of juniors get lost before the meetings, muddle up their tasks and end up panicking when things messed up.
I tell you, that tragedy is avoidable.
1. NEVER ENTER A MEETING WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE
“Hey, what is it meeting about?”
“No idea, they just told me to be here” – the other shrugs
Is this conversation familiar to you? It shouldn’t be, either you heard it from the attendees or worse, from yourself.
It’s the account’s job to ensure everyone understands the objectives of the gathering (often by email). The attendee should know the role of their presence, how it impacts on their work and do homework if necessary, to be constructive in the meeting.
Identifying the purpose will help you to decide how to do the job. Should this discussion be conducted face-to-face or an email is enough?
> Good reasons for a meeting:
- Brief a new project
- Announce a “minor” change in the brief (they say)
- Present a strategic approach to the client
> Bad reasons for a meeting:
- Move the logo 2mm to the right and brighten the background 3%
- I want you to hear this piece of library music
2. RE-LOOK AT THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Understanding what was aligned previously before entering the boardroom is important.
To start the meeting, the account briefly takes everyone through today’s agenda, or previous agreements. Make sure that you look at the contact report or meeting minute beforehand to provide an accurate recap and deliverable list. Get the documents ready on the screen so you can pull it out if someone asks for clarification. (Yes, you’re right! Into their face!) Nothing harms your reputation more than not knowing the location of your files, dear.
3. BE DILIGENT
Receiving an invitation about building a website for a new client? Even if you haven’t seen the brief yet, you can look for the client online and jot down some words:
- How do you feel about the current website as a new user?
- Who are their competitors and how are they doing with their websites? Are they better or worse? Is there anything we can learn from them?
Grounding information related to the meeting gives you an overview of the project and ideas to contribute to the meeting, making you a valuable attendee. Don’t be silent, especially when you are at the junior level. If you say something wrong, you are forgiven because you are a subordinate. The seniors will understand that you are not experienced enough to provide a solid comment, but you have your point of view based on the research that you take time to do. Experience can be gained, but passion must be given in your blood when you work for an agency.
4. SENDING INVITATION:
It is not just an email. This is the only piece of information that eliminates the confused receiver. Here I give you a recipe, please feel free to use.
List of recipients:
Only invite related persons. And what I mean by related is the ones who:
+ Attend the client presentation
+ Lead the work (Creative lead, account lead, strategy lead)
+ Arrange the resource and must be aware of the scope of work (traffic manager)
+ Hands-on the job (Art director, designer, copywriter)
You can talk to the team leader to see who they want to be involved in the meeting before sending the invitation.
Concise but complete email subject:
Keep it simple so once people scan it, they know “who, what and when”.
Follow the format: Client - meeting type - date
Ex: New soft drink client - 1st creative concept internal - Mar3
Or Diaper - 2nd client presentation (with the CEO) – Apr 1
This would help the recipients immediately identify who they are talking to, what they are talking about and when it is happening at a glance. Saying “hello!” in the subject line does not make you a friendly colleague but a catastrophe for your professional image.
Straight to the point opening
My personal advice is don’t be too casual in email. It’s often pulled out when things get messy and you never know how words can be interpreted so don’t leave them room to stab into your back. Be formal and judicious when communicating via email.
Opening by your self-introduction if you are new to the team. If not, give a little context, followed by the purpose of the meeting.
“Dear team,
I am Annie, the new Account Executive from Jack’s team. You are invited to join the briefing for the summer promotion project for Diaper product.”
Or
“Dear team,
As per our alignment in the briefing yesterday, I am sending this email to invite you to the 1st internal – creative concept for Diaper product.”
Emphasizing time and venue
This is the key information of the invitation so dress it the way that people can’t miss. Bullet point, bold and highlight.
- “Time: 9AM – 10AM
- Place: Client office – Meeting room 1 – floor 3 – Silver Bullet building – 78A Wilson Ave, Toronto. “
Even when you send out a calendar with time and place on it, repeat them again in the body email. Not everyone invited uses Outlook or Google Calendar, so, better safe than sorry. Want to go the extra mile to show your consideration? Add the Google map link to the location.
If you want to gather everyone at your office to depart together, alert the exact time you have to leave by one simple sentence “We will leave at our office at 8.30 sharp. Please be on time.”
Agenda
Ask your boss or the host for the agenda, tasks and persons in charge. If you get a verbal answer, note them down carefully (unless you have an exceptional memory, otherwise, take note), lay them out in a coherent format (table is recommended) and send it to your direct again for final confirmation before sending out. Do not assume and do not be afraid to ask. Your boss will not bite you, they are tamed, I swear.
Use attachment if the list is long and demands time to read. Let the audience know what the attached is about and what it is for.
“Kindly find the attached for:
1. Agenda
2. House rules
3. Tasks and person in charge (must-read material)
4. Background information
Please review and prepare your questions so we can discuss them in the Q&A session.”
By mentioning “attached” or “attachment”, you will be notified when you forget to attach the file. It saved me several times.
Ending with a CTA
End with a CTA to confirm the participation so you can manage logistics accordingly and avoid surprises if someone does not show up on the event. Give them a deadline (we are the account, the deadline generator) but be reasonable.
“Please confirm your attendance by the end of today.
If there is any clarification or assistance needed, please let me know.”
Tips and tricks:
Even though Nike’s slogan seems cool, don’t always “just do it”. Think twice or thrice before hitting the “send” button.
Proofreading is a must. Check on your typos, grammar mistakes, your tone of voice, names if you mention them. Read it the way that a literary critic is doing their job. Avoiding:
- Exclamation mark: leave it for your text message to your close friends
- Emoji: is being cutesy a part of your personal branding?
- Cap locks: use as your own risk if you really want to yell at somebody
- Font and size: use san serif font for the ease of reading. Never use 2 fonts or sizes in the same email. This happens when you copy a part of the information and paste them without reformatting. Your email and, unfortunately, your image look clumsy and careless.
You also want to set up your email tracking system to see if the email is delivered or viewed. The guide for Outlook is available here: https://bit.ly/37Tr9xm. If one of the audience has not viewed the email yet, you want to follow up with them by other means individually.
In short, you are not a student anymore, no longer does a 2000-word essay will bring you a high grade. A long email looks like an article, and this image shows how people skim through the content.
What they read are the subject line, the 1st paragraph and the headlines that break information into small chunks. Your email should be short, succinct and scannable. Pay attention to your email etiquette and tone of voice. When you get to a more senior level, you can add your personal touch on your email but until then, make it clean and professional. .
5. ARRANGING LOGISTIC
Remember Annie? This is what she should have done to avoid that stare-of-death.
Book the meeting room:
Each company will have a different designated system for this purpose (sometimes it’s just a sticky note). Take your time to get used to it and make sure no overlap happens between your meeting and the next one. The space should suit the number of attendees. It’s a good idea to buffer around 15 minutes because there is always someone who loves asking questions (jk, asking is good)
Technical issue:
i. Always check the connection between the laptop that you use to present and the projector/TV before the meeting at least 24 hours. What kind of cable is needed? Do you have them in hand? If not, where can you get them?
ii. Check the audio system. Download the required software and test them.
iii. Always copy your file to a memory stick or save them on the cloud in case your computer crashes.
iv. Know the Wi-Fi password and get your computer online. If you lose your connection, turn your phone into a mobile hotspot and use it instead.
v. Save the IT support contact in your phone. Let them know by email and by verbal that you are having an important meeting at that time and would love to have their availability to support if technical issues happen.
vi. Close all unnecessary files on the screen. Only show what needs to be shown. Your personal photos and Skype chat are not in the list of the presentation, thank you.
Prepare refreshment:
Water is essential in every meeting to keep your guest hydrated and alert. If they are branded, peel it off unless the guest is coming from that specific company. Say, your guest is coming from Nestle water, yet you serve them Aquafina. Uh oh! It’s an smh! for me. Besides, tell your kind tea lady ahead of time if you need fruits, pastries or biscuits if the meeting takes a few hours. Keep it simple and least-mess. Nobody demands for a 6-course meal served on hot plates in a meeting.
Over lunch meeting:
Choose a place that requires minimal effort to commute and fosters formal business communication. Vietnamese street food is the best thing in the world in my opinion, but squatting on the pavement and challenging your guest’s ability to control a pair of chopsticks while talking about business might be not so appropriate.
If a quick lunch is preferred, you can follow the ideas in this article, which I found very practical and universal: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/building-the-menu-lunch-options-1223513. Find a restaurant that has delivery service. Ask one of the co-workers to receive them for you or if no one is available, tell your boss in advance that you need to get out for 10mins for the food.
Be considerate of the guest’s cultures, religions and dietary restrictions when offering them meals.
Let me know in the comment what your take on meeting preparation is or your story of once being Annie and how you solved it. I would love to hear.
Happy reading!
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