There is perhaps no better skill in the development world than mastering the art of holding a well-planned, thoughtfully conceived and properly choreographed meeting.

By: David G. Phillips

Meeting our fundraising potential requires that we attend to many details, very regularly—not one or two magnanimous acts of great impact or importance. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.”

Handling the important details is done through the organized efforts of many people. These people are organized through meetings of two or more interested parties. Whether on the phone, with a small group of two or three people, or in a convention center with thousands, “the devil is in the details.” Who is invited, by whom and how? How is the room setup? How are the presenters situated (at a head table, on a dais, spread around the room)? Who welcomes people, and what do they say? Who will serve as master of ceremonies, as a chairman of a committee usually does?

Many people will be surprised to think that I would devote an entire article to calling, planning and holding a top-quality meeting. Yet, all of us have sat through meetings that begin with a well-intentioned chairman or host who begins with, “David told me to welcome you here today and to say ‘thanks for coming.’”

This leaves you feeling that the speaker doesn’t feel very enthusiastic about being there and playing the role they are playing. How much better do people feel when the chairperson (who serves as hostess/host) seems genuinely delighted to see each person, welcomes participants warmly as individuals and begins to build a warm rapport with the group? A motivated leader will create an enthusiasm for success and cooperation that is contagious.

The type of meetings I would like to focus on here are small to medium-sized business meetings of several people, to several dozen people. These are the meetings we use more frequently as fundraising professionals. This is the easiest way for me to demonstrate the significance of some very minor actions. These actions, when taken (or not taken) in concert, can dramatically effect the outcome of a meeting.

These are characteristics of good meetings that you should always try to incorporate into every meeting. You always know, of course, that you will never get everything you want in every case. The following goals are worthy of your best efforts.

Good Meetings:

• Are targeted specifically to accomplish one or several very specific goals.



• Are directed by informed, enthusiastic and motivated leaders.



• Inspire free, open and honest two-way communication.



• Involve the use of multiple methods of presentation and communication to enable you to reach people through the spoken word, the written word, and pictures or graphical representations, etc.



• Foster feelings of mutual respect, shared responsibilities and mutual accomplishment.



• Build camaraderie and create an esprit de corps.



• Lead all persons in attendance toward the accomplishment of the specified meeting objectives and actionable items.

As a development or fundraising professional, you must understand that it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that these items above are, in fact, given high priority. It is your job to develop the agenda with these things in mind. What are the one, two or three things that must happen as a result of this meeting? You must draft an agenda that naturally moves everyone in that direction.

For every speaker on the agenda, you should develop a set of suggested speaking remarks—a skeletal agenda of what he or she should say, and how you would suggest that he or she deliver that message. For instance: in a very important place, you might mark special portions of their words “with emphasis” by bolding or highlighting that section. You should mail, fax or e-mail their remarks well in advance, and then follow-up with a phone call and brief discussion of the tone you want them to set. Better yet, you could deliver the remarks ‘by-hand’ and sit down for a personal discussion with the speaker to make certain that he/she knows your message and the intended outcome.

As outside fundraising counsel, our capital campaign directors often play a significant role in leading campaign meetings, but we still try very hard to get the volunteers and the internal development people (where they have development staff) to carry the standard.

As an internal fundraising professional, or development officer, it is even more important for you to defer to your volunteer leadership and to get your board members to lead the way with their own giving and inspirational motivation. Your role becomes one of choreographer and director. You must make sure the right things happen, and if the ship gets ‘off course,’ you have to ‘take charge’ by steering things back in the ‘right direction.’

In preparing for a meeting, if one of your leaders is not comfortable with what you need them to be saying, you must work through it before the meeting. You must know the minds of all important attendees and especially speakers, so that you can choreograph an effective, enjoyable and successful show. To assume everyone is on the same page is to plan for a very long and destructive meeting. The hard work is done before important meetings. The meeting itself should be more for cooperative discussion, refining the finer points of tactical plans, and for developing a team spirit.

In short, the agenda for a successful meeting must be clearly set beforehand, adhered to meticulously and its actionable items must be attended to with great precision. Sure, this can happen without great preparation when the agenda involves something simplistic such as lunch in the local deli. But when serious business needs attending to, top professionals of any profession know that what is done before the meeting is much more telling than what goes on during the meeting. In fact, what happens during the meeting is predicated upon what work was done in advance.

Take the time to study your desired outcome/s, and then attend to the details required to develop a successful scenario, and you too can enjoy powerful meetings that inspire and empower your volunteers to go forth with renewed energy and a real understanding of what needs to be done to create the circumstances for their success! And, as you know, if you can get them ‘fired up,’ they can accomplish far more than anyone at first would imagine.

David G. Phillips is president of Custom Development Solutions, Inc. (CDS). CDS has become one of North America's best and most sought after fundraising consulting firms specializing in the strategic planning and tactical execution of capital campaigns for non-profits throughout the United States and Canada. More information on CDS can be found on the web at www.cdsfunds.com. If you have a fundraising question for David, please call 800-761-3833 or send an email to dgp@cdsfunds.com.