 |
How to Recoup From Missing the Most Important Meeting of the Year
Sometimes missing a critical meeting just can't be helped. Despite the advance planning, you just cannot make it to the meeting. Before you get out the guilt stick and beat yourself up about how stupid that was or how bad it's going to be for your career, take a step back and examine how to overcome your absence.
If you have been following my advice, you did all of the advance preparation for attending the meeting or the show. You know from those preparations about the specific activities and events that you missed. Always keep the agenda or the pre-show planner until after the event occurs.
Recently I had to miss an important event at which I was to give a speech. Fortunately, I was prepared in advance and was able to send my speech via email for distribution at the event.
Learn from this: Prepare in advance. Plan for Murphy's Law. Be prepared to ask someone to present your information or represent you at the event. In the case that you are irreplaceable (we all wish that) contact the lead organizer and let them know you have a conflict. Find out the best way to proceed and explore if there is anything you can do in advance to smooth it over. If extra work is required as a result of your inability to attend, do it. That way you are making a commitment even if you are not there.
Tip: Try not to wait until the last minute to report that you can't make it. The more advance notice you give, the better the relationship will be and they better their chance to find a replacement.
After you have missed the event, spend some time assessing what activities took place. Think it terms of the most critical elements. Did someone take notes? Can you get them? Who has the information on the discussion topics and the outcomes of the conversation? Was a colleague or associate in attendance? If it was your boss, see if you can get some face time to review what transpired. Follow up with the person in charge of the event. Send a handwritten note to them and apologize for your absence. Volunteer to help again at the next event. Remember you are not really doing penance; you are just getting back into the loop.
Sometimes actually missing a meeting can work to your advantage. After the event, you can get in front of important participants by requesting that they bring you up to speed. Apologize for missing the event but don't obsess about it. We all experience events beyond our control.
Establish a rapport with the meeting leaders and discuss a absence protocol. Volunteer to set one up. This places you in a favorable position. You are still willing to do your share and be active in the group's outcome.
Volunteer for other assignments. A word of caution: if the reason for missing the meeting was family or medical issues that are not resolved, wait for this step to your plate is clear. Missing one meeting is OK. Missing more than that can cause problems.
Remember the important issue is to not overreact because you couldn't be there. Regroup and rethink your strategy to get back into the mainstream events and activities.
Think big picture and plot in the grand scheme of things. Yes, you really hated that you missed a critical meeting but in the long run responsiveness and willingness to commit is what people will remember after that single event.
JoAnn Hines' specialty is PACKAGING PEOPLE.
Whether you want to be paid more, you just lost your job, or you want to progress in the one you have, Ms. Hines advice and expertise can help you transform your personal brand. She can show you how to package yourself and make your brand a hot commodity. It's easy once you know the ropes and begin to utilize her insider's secrets. She shows you step by step how to increase your visibility, credibility and marketability with easy to use tutorials and templates.
It is time to get started "Packaging Yourself."
Email me the Chief People Packager @ pkgcoach@aol.com
|
|
|
|
CAREER TOPICS
Virtual Heroes: The Growth of the Virtual Assistant
Building and expanding a business is a difficult task, when the management of the business in its existing form takes up much of the time. The administrative, office-based and creative tasks behind running a business, although time-consuming and often repetitive, are vital to the continued operations of the business.
How to Write Cover Letters That Increase Your Chances of Winning an Interview
Submit a poorly written cover letter and the chances are your resume will end up in the trash bin without even being looked at.On the other hand, a well written cover letter can almost guarantee you get an interview.
Searching for Jobs Online
Searching for jobs online is easier than ever, but also more confusing than ever. Any Internet user doing a job search online will find that they can choose from hundreds of national employment listing web sites and the numbers can often be staggering.
Seminars: Why Are They Popular, and What Advantages/Disadvantages Are There to Attending One?
Seminars dealing with "special topics" have actually been around for decades, and are an older form of marketing and information exchanges, that have seen quite a resurgence of interest in the past ten years.Seminars are simply a group of people coming together for the discussion and learning of specific techniques and topics.
5 Things Every New Caterer Should Know
It has been over twenty five years since I started a small catering company that specialized in International Tapas, tiny silver trays of finger foods to delight the eyes and satisfied the stomach. These little morels were tasty, light and filling.
5 Proven Steps To Easily Master The Art Of The Interview And Get The Bartending Job Of Your Dreams!
Your mouth is dry, your palms are sweaty, your heart is beating so fast it feels like it is going to pop out of your chest!Sound familiar?For most people, interviews are uncomfortable. The mere thought of them causes anxiety and nervousness.
Take This Job and...Re-staff It
Deciding to leave a job isn't easy. In fact, quitting a job requires courage, especially in today's soft economy when the unemployment rate has reached 6.
What is a Career Anyway?
A career is the sum total of all of your work-related contributions to society in a lifetime. This includes time and effort spent to provide goods, services, or benefit to others.
Employment Law: Attendance Rewards - Legal Ramifications
If you were thinking of offering your employees special rewards as incentives for having good attendance records, then you must read on. In fact, employers that offer attendance bonuses may find themselves falling foul of the law.
5 Tips for Customizing your Resume
Gone are the days of the bland, generic one-page resume. Employers these days are more impressed by a resume that is customized and they tend to give jobs to interviewees that have a bit of knowledge about the company.
To All Managers: How Does ADD Affect Your Workplace?
Tent caterpillars create a cocoon for an entire colony. Within one colony there are two types of caterpillar.
Career Success: Don't Be Caught With Your Pants Down
Do you want to know how to jump-start your professional career? Or, are you already in the trenches trying to be a high performer and wanting to make a quantum lead to the next stage of your career? Or, because of downsizings or reorganizations, you feel like you are paddling faster and faster but seem to be getting nowhere? Find out how to monitor your changing environment so you won't be caught with your pants down.Visualize your career environment as one huge jigsaw puzzle.
Free Resume Template: What Makes a Good One?
You can drown in the "free resume examples," "free resume templates," and "free resume samples" on the web.In my opinion, a single thing makes one free resume template different from another: results.
9 Tips on Creating a Professional Emailed Job Application
With the advent of the Internet, many of us have the opportunity to apply for work through email.However, just because this is the Internet and email is so fast and convenient, that does NOT mean you should give up professionalism and polish!FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT.
Why You Need To Be An Intrapreneur
When a client asks me if I think he or she is a good candidate for starting a new business, I ask several questions (see our free assessment, "Are You an Entrepreneur?"). But the truth of the matter is that these questions are similar to ones that I'd ask someone who wants to move up in an organization or find a new position elsewhere.
Stand Out From the Crowd with Simple Marketing Methods
Although today's job market can be very competitive, many job seekers overlook simple techniques that will catch potential employers' attention. Apply these eight ideas to stay ahead of your competitors and get hired now!1.
Business Dress for Women: Making Impact
Buying a suit can be an important investment when you are trying to improve your look for business or career advancement. Wearing a standard off-the rack suit for business or a job interview does not always mean success.
Looking for Work in All the Wrong Places
The Question: After identifying a potential employer, I get contact information, do my research and send out my resume and cover letter, requesting an interview for a management or human resource position. I am listed with recruiters and staffing agencies and call them every week.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone in the Job Search
Most everyone these days knows what a comfort zone is. My definition is the place, environment and tasks that we have learned to do and feel comfortable with--a comfort zone.
The Hidden Agenda of Interviews
It's Not What They Ask - The Hidden Agenda of InterviewsWhat do you think you're going to an interview for? To list your qualifications and discuss what's on your resume? That's just the tip of the iceberg, and you're the Titanic if you don't go in with at least an idea of what is behind their questions.Sure, there are the standard questions, because the basic information has to be conveyed some way, and besides reading your resume, they like to see you sweat and whether you can be caught out with any inconsistencies between what is on paper, and what comes out of your mouth.
|
