This doesn’t only apply to meetings, it could also apply to presentations. I say meetings though because most of the time, meetings are held because someone requires questions to be answered and expect responses to be given, than say a lecture or a presentation that’s more a one-way street.
I’ve probably learned many things subconsciously over the years, but this one I keep going back to and keep confirming that it’s important to remind myself whether I’m asking the questions or giving the responses.
I’m not a magician, not even an amateur one, but I’ve been an audience member a number of times. Magicians only show you what they want you to see, no more and no less. I’ve learned that it should be like that when you run meetings at work. You should practice what you want to say, how you want to say it and the most important part it so to only reveal what you have questions about.
What I’ve found when I don’t do this is when the meetings go in all tangents. Tangents that lead no where and you come away with even more questions or question you original questions. That’s not a good meeting.
It’s also not good when you provide too much in terms of visual and no heavily focused. I know sometimes we want to show how much we’ve thought about something or worked on something, but whenever I do that in meetings, it tends to backfire.
Run your meetings like a magic show.