Meetings can be a time for dynamic interaction or a time for mundane conversation and boredom. Momentum is the thing that makes the difference. But how do you keep ideas flowing, bullet points flying, and conversation brisk and exciting? The answer may surprise you. Preparation is what means the difference between good meetings and bad meetings.

When you schedule a meeting the first thing you need to do is map the meeting out in your mind. Prepare your agenda carefully and with an eye to a seamless flow of topics. Jumping around from point to point will slow your meeting down as everyone switches gears. Just like a roadmap, plan your talking points like stops on a road to a specific destination.

To avoid background or "catch up" questions, you should provide any forms or background documentation to your participants ahead of time. Don't send this material too far ahead as it will get lost in the usual glut of paper ending up on everyone's desks. Two to three days ahead of your meeting time is optimum. Make sure that people know that they should bring these packets with them to the meeting. Don't forget to include charts, Power Point slides, and visuals to avoid arduous explanations.

Schedule your meeting for morning hours, before the after lunch time slump and the race to the door at the end of the day. Something else may surprise you-don't have food or snacks at your meeting. The time spent in setting up, eating, and cleaning up is wasted energy. Also, you don't want a satisfied crowd-you want the hungry in both the literal and figurative sense of the word. It is all about momentum and looking carefully at your agenda and the moderator of the meeting and try to anticipate vulnerable areas.

Approach your meetings like a driver getting ready for the Daytona 500. There is a checkered flag at the end of the race and the first one to get there wins. You want you meeting to move at a pace where the ideas are heard and positions are explored but at an even pace without side trips to the mundane. Much of the battle is simply in good planning and an energetic moderator who can keep control of a meeting and bring it to a successful conclusion where direction and decisions can be achieved. So go into that meeting, keep your eye on the prize, and get to that checkered flag and victory.

Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor, Coach and Trainer. From 1983 to 2005 she was COO and VP of Sales and Marketing for a national telecom equipment distributor. Her passion for business, working with clients in solving critical issues in the strategic, tactical and operational areas of growth continues. She is now President and Founder of NuVo Partners and Successful Business Advisors and The Coaching Queen. To learn more about the services available, please visit the website at: or call 847-392-6886.