HOW TO DEAL WITH A LAST-MINUTE AGENDA CHANGE: 5-MINUTE PRIMER

Your boss has just barged into your office in a panic, telling you some VIPs from headquarters are milling around, and that you need to quickly change the agenda of the meeting you’ve been preparing for the past week. It was supposed to be a meeting to discuss employee outings for that year, but your boss is worried that the higher-ups won’t take your division seriously if they happen to slip into your meeting. You need to come up with an alternate plan—and fast!

Minute 1: Sketch out the framework starting by drawing a circle each on two separate sheets of paper
Minute 2: In the core circle, write in a topic relevant to your division.
Minute 3: Consider the various proof points that could be included for each core topic.
Minute 4: Take a look at each and see which has the most proof points, and make that your topic.
Minute 5: Write the core message on the top of another sheet of paper, list three or four of the proof points underneath, and head to your meeting. Remember to also bring this for your own quick visual reference and to use when points come up that are not on your sheet.

(Excerpted from Loud and Clear by Karen Berg. Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/wm2tod4)