Annual Meeting Time! – 4 Steps to a Great Meeting

 It is that time of year when most venture capital firms host annual meetings for their venture capital investors a.k.a., limited partners.

As the sole administrative associate at my Boston venture capital firm, OpenView Venture Partners, the planning for a successful event is my responsibility.

Here are some tips to setting up a successful annual meeting:

1) Choose your hotel / venue and be prepared to negotiate the terms of the contract. The basic idea is that everything is negotiable. Once you sign the contract you are obligated to abide by every word of it.

– Meeting room rates
– Hotel room rates
– Food and beverage minimums
– Parking

2) Choose food and beverage options that allow for various dietary needs such as having vegetarian lunch and breakfast options. I always like to have the beverages inside the meeting space; drinks are the one item participants classically leave a meeting to get. Make sure to have coffee, tea, water and soda available at all times of the day.

3) Work with the venue’s audio visual team to convey your meeting’s specific needs. I like to have a standard projection package along with wireless internet access for all participants.

– Projection package
– Wireless internet
– Presentation mouse / pointer
– Schedule a short run-through to work out any kinks
– Arrive 2 hours before the meeting to troubleshoot any last minute audio visual items

4) On the meeting day, get set up and prepare to greet guests by arriving at least 2 hours prior to the start of the event. This allows you time to organize the registration desk, any printed meeting collateral, and set up name tags. Here is a short day of check list:

– Set up name tags in alphabetical order on the registration desk
*Make sure you have a plan to make additional name tags on the spot
– Pass out meeting collateral to each attendee table
– Make sure to have the wireless internet access code on a printed sheet on each table
– Make sure that each table has a power strip to plug in a laptop if necessary
– Make sure to have the venue’s banquet managers contact information for any issues that may arise

If you follow these simple steps, you will have a successful meeting. The more meetings you set up, the easier they become. This process will become more finely tuned for each meeting you host.