Quick thoughts about the work required to make all day meetings run smoothly:
- Suitable space with enough seating (and reasonable chairs!)
- Turn down the AC if the room is going to be crowded to help with the heat load
- Plenty of power strips – few people will make it through the day on laptop battery only
- At least one extra laptop power cable (someone will forget)
- Might be worth bringing a couple USB cables or setting up a phone charging area
- Know how to use the projector and who to call if any problems
- Dry erase markers, post it charts, etc
- Good phone and a conference bridge if needed
- Printed instructions for connecting to WIFI (remember some laptops don’t have network jacks anymore)
- And yes, an agenda and a facilitator to drive the agenda
- If you’re using LiveMeeting or any of the similar products make sure you know how to use it and ideally get everyone set up ahead of time
- Coffee and water near by, ideally in the room
- Throw in a map to the break room, restrooms, and any on site cafeteria if you have people from outside joining you
- Big trash can for lunch garbage (and you are providing lunch, right?)
I’ve seen a lot of meetings derailed just trying to get everyone on the network. Right behind it is trying to get someone to show something on LiveMeeting that hasn’t used it before.
