nicksenzee.com

Meeting Evaluation

Nick — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:01:28 -0700

I attend a lot of board meetings. Some are good, some aren't very good. But I love the fact that, if you have two different meetings that are productive and successful, they may not be anything alike. A group here at work came up with this meeting evaluation that gets at some of this, and I thought it was interesting to be so transparent about these points that usually people don't even articulate to themselves. What do you think, dear reader?

• The purpose of the meeting was clearly stated at the outset. (Y/N)
• The meeting's agenda was available to all attendees. (Y/N)
• The agenda was followed during the meeting. (Y/N)
• The meeting's objectives were met. (Y/N)
• My personal objectives were met. (Y/N)
• Everyone was encouraged to actively participate in the meeting. (Y/N)
• What part of the meeting was most valuable to you?
• Which part of the meeting was the least valuable for you?
• What recommendations do you have for conducting future meetings?

This kind of takes me back to my days teaching French. Every blue moon my boss used to come in and observe. When she did, she used an evaluation similar to this. For me, I hated the process but it did inspire me to improve things.

The reading pile

Nick — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:14:03 -0700

Making it through my pile again. Actually, I think this is older than that. But Fast Company has this really fascinating article on "generation debt." The article features online money-management applications, mainly mint, which it calls the "Axe Bodyspray of personal finance." Yucky image. But interesting statistics in the article, e.g. "Americans under 35 spend 16% more than they earn, on average." That is depressing. They quote Ramit Sethi, saying "there's this dull throbbing sense of guilt that we should be doing something, but where do we start?" The problem is it's not an easy answer, it's one that comes with hard work, discipline and knowing oneself. But hey, if a website helps someone, I'm all for it.

That issue also published a list of huge blogs, most of which I had heard of but here's a few that are new to me: Blog di Beppe Grillo, Icanhascheezburger.com, for the lolcat-inclined, and TMZ.com.

Three things associations should drop, IMHO.

Nick — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:08:29 -0700

And the sooner the better. There are three things that drive me crazy when they come up in board meetings. Things that I have to stop myself from grabbing the person who suggested it and shaking them vigorously. However, I wanted to post it here to see if anybody has a differing opinion, and why.

First off is the whole silent auction thing. These make me want to scream. Somebody donates something that is worth $100 and it gets auctioned off for $15. Yay, the organization made $15!! Does anyone spot the problem with this plan? Do these ever make sense?

Second, the "let's do a scholarship" phenomenon. Do people ever stop and think about the end users here? If they did, they would probably perceive that, for a strapped student, yes $300 is worth jumping through a hoop or two. However, if you're a student, you also think that there are tons of other people applying for the same $300. Yes, the $300 is nice, but in the mind of an applicant, it's kind of like a slot machine.

The third piece of the trifecta has gotta be mentoring programs. Now, do I think mentoring is awesome? Yes, I do. Do I think organizations should facilitate it? Yes I do. But does that ever happen when someone says "let's do a mentoring program"? I have my doubts. In theory they should work but lots of factors have made them basically unimplementable for these groups.

So I don't claim to be the fount of all wisdom, but in general, I wish these things would go away.

Nonprofits in trouble

Nick — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:17:01 -0700

So there's these pieces in the Washington Post about the nonprofit sector failing to nurture its future leaders. A lot of the points people are talking about look really familiar. The generational divide is a really big deal.

At a loss for blog topics?

Nick — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:03:29 -0800

Heh. My buddy Chris Brogan has this awesome list for what to do if you're looking for inspiration for things to do online.