Skip links

New Year Resolutions for Your Meetings

With a new year comes new resolutions, or perhaps a recycled one we just can’t seem to execute.

Many of us start out each year with the best of intentions. We set our goals, create our plan, and then before we know it the year is coming to an end with us barely scratching the surface.

So how do we make 2016 different? How do we break the cycle?

THE ANSWER: Keep it simple. Focus on ONE goal at a time and start NOW.

In 2015 I read a book titled, The ONE Thing. The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results. It was written by Gary Keller, cofounder of Keller Williams Realty.

In this book, Gary goes into detail about a period in his life where he felt the walls caving in. No matter what he did there was never enough time. Finally, at the end of his rope, Gary sought help in the form of a coach. They reflected on his past successes and realized a pattern.

“Where I’d had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing, and where my success varied, my focus had too.”  – Gary Keller

Thus leading him to a life-changing question, “What’s the ONE thing you can do that by doing so everything else would be easier or unnecessary?”

Think about that for a second. If you could only accomplish one thing this year, what would it be?

For example, here are six new year resolution ideas for meeting and event professionals:

  1. TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE
    • Stop breaking your back by lugging around all those heavy binders. Utilize programs such as Evernote or Dropbox to access your files anywhere at any time.
  2. SHAKE UP YOUR MEETINGS
    • It’s not your old man’s meeting, so stop trying to cram all the information into one sit down session. A benefit of today’s ever-connected society is that we have the tools to educate people before and after events.
  3. CREATE AN APP
    • There’s an app for that! Meeting and event apps like YAPP or Appmobi are a great way to keep your attendees informed and organized. Utilize the backend metrics to discover what works and where you need improvement.
  4. VENDOR MAKEOVER
    • A vendor makeover doesn’t have to mean replacing the vendors you’ve come to trust and depend on but rather try reviewing a number of options. You’ll get a fresh perspective for you and your trusted team to build off of.
  5. BETTER FOLLOW UP
    • Follow up is one of the most important aspects of any business, and the same goes for the Meeting and Event Industry. Challenge your guests to set goals and hold them accountable. Send out surveys to ask for advice on how to improve, or provide educational articles that relate to sessions they attended.
  6. SYNERGIZE ATTENDEES
    • We have found forums to be a great way to invoke a sense of community amongst attendees. It provides a space for people to share best practices and ask specific questions unique to your industry.

Now that you’ve had some time to brainstorm over your one thing for the year, let’s take a look at what one thing you can do each month to move towards your year goal. Then think about what one thing you can do each week to reach your goal for the month. Until finally breaking it down to what is one thing you can do each day to reach your goal for the week.

See a pattern here?

Too often we find ourselves overbooked, overextended, and overcommitted. Making even the simplest of tasks seem overwhelming. The trick is to slow down and ask ourselves, “What is the ONE thing I can do that by doing so everything else will become easier or unnecessary?” The rest will fall into place.

The last thought I want to leave you with is the concept of starting now. We tend to fall victim to the idea that somehow tomorrow we will magically be a better more disciplined version of ourselves. When the reality is, the struggle you face today involving a change or starting something new will be the same struggle you will face tomorrow. Robert Kiyosaki says it best, “Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.”