Recently, America lost one of giants of late night television, Johnny Carson. He was a master at his craft, because he would conduct his show, essentially like a ninety minute meeting. The program would be entertaining, insightful, informative, and leave you wanting more.

Many times we fear going to meetings because we feel, based on past experiences, that they are going to be boring, not relevant, lack information, and we can’t wait until meeting ends.

Here are my eight techniques used by Johnny Carson to make your meetings outstanding for all involved:

1. Do Your Research Johnny Carson would invest time before each show to find out information on what was important to his guests and audience members. He would find out about his guests’ personalities, their interests, and concerns.

Why not do same? E-mail participants with your agenda before meeting. Ask them for feedback or any concerns they may have concerning meeting. This allows you address any concerns before meeting and to think through any potential problems and come up with better answers for solutions during meeting.

2. Plan Meeting Master details for your meeting. Set an agenda with points to be covered and time period for which they will be covered.

3. Invite Only “Guests” That Can Contribute When Johnny was finished speaking with one guest, then it was time to bring out his next guest and engage in conversation with that guest. When he finished speaking with his guests he would excuse them so they could leave.

Invite only “guests” that are relevant to subject matter at hand. How many times have you wondered, “Why am I here, this meeting doesn’t pertain to me?” Also once your “guest” has contributed to meeting and there is nothing else in meeting that pertains to them, excuse them so they can leave.

4. Keep on Time You knew every night Tonight Show with Johnny Carson would start at its assigned time (unless there was a special event).

Starting you meeting on time shows respect for participants who made effort to show up on time, and let’s late comers know that this behavior is unacceptable.

Also designate one person to be time keeper. They are responsible for keeping you on track to stay within time limits for each subject covered in meeting. The results are that you start on time and end on time while accomplishing your meeting agenda.

Tip #1 Encourage sales training that is not selling

Insist on learning from all personnel beyond their functional area. Learning should not be limited to top managers. Yes, employees may receive a lot of training, but it is usually limited to how to do their job. The more they know and understand general business concepts and specific operational issues, easier it is to provide input and answers to business challenges. This does not mean that everyone needs to become experts in strategy, leadership, finances, marketing, sales, operations, distribution … but as they learn a little about each category and then more in areas that interest them, better able they will be to provide a valuable contribution. Do not encourage sales personnel to only learn about selling. Remember that learning comes in all forms and does not have to be provided by organization – reading publications, taking seminars, listening to subject matter authorities, observing successful etc.

Tip #2 It is not about your weaknesses

We tend to concentrate on what is wrong and ignore what is right. It is surprising how many managers are unable to identify top three strengths of their organization. If you have not uncovered company’s true strengths - what you do better than most - then how can you take these strengths and apply them to other aspects of operation? Knowing your strengths is just beginning. Understanding how you got there and why you are able to excel in a particular area is what will allow you to duplicate these assets. This should not be limited to “top” strengths of organization. Break down what you do well by division, function, even by individual. Share with others and teach where necessary. Be fruitful and multiply – applying your strengths to all aspects of your business.

Tip #3 Mine your existing resources