The Chief Administration officer took to the stage and asked everyone to clear their tables of all content as a score of people started passing out gift bags to each table. As part of their annual meetings, beginning last year, they have determined to make charitable giving a part of the program. This year’s activity — care packages for military men and women serving overseas (last year they made blankets for children in need).

First they honored the existing veterans within the room and launched into preparing the care packages. Each table created a Hero’s t-shirt (drawing or writing whatever they wanted on a white t-shirt with colored markers), wrote personalized messages on provided thank you cards, and then filled a shipping box with multiple items purchased by Merit specifically for the packages. They had even done their homework and spoke with military representatives to find out what items a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine would want to receive.

Maybe this is something other companies are already doing … it was a first for me and I was moved. The activity was energizing, people were really engaged, there was a lot of laughter and I witnessed how it drew their workforce together.

I look forward to recommending this type of activity to everyone of our clients. I hope you pass it forward with your company.

• Find out what your leadership and sales team needs. Take the time to ask about more than just the agenda. A successful meeting will address what is really going on within your sales organization, confront hidden beliefs and bring everyone to a high state of ready. Do not fall into the trap of, “I already know what our team needs!”
• Clearly communicate the reason for the meeting. Create a concise “reason for the meeting” Once you have taken the time to ask what people need, turn their words into a statement of goals and objectives that everyone can (mostly) agree on.
• Be a part of your meeting, not above it. Find ways to participate with your team in the different activities, trainings and discussions. That means giving away parts of your agenda so that you can fully engage as part of the team.
• Feature a relatively unknown staff or sales team member. There is almost always people in your organization with vital expertise that are working in the shadows. Bringing them forward is an incredible morale booster and motivator.
• Don’t get buried by special effects. Charts, pictures, spreadsheets, lights and sound are useful, but can become an incredible downer for your team when overused. Focus more on face-to-face connections and allow the special effects to support, not dominate the experience.
• Document and distribute. Don’t let the experience die when the meeting is over. Use photos and video from the meeting in company communications, on your company YouTube channel and your intranet.

Many of my clients ask if attending conferences is useful for growing their practice or marketing themselves — my short answer is “yes”. This advise from Matt Homann over at “the [non]billable hour” is pretty close to how I might answer the question. In particular I appreciated Matt’s comments about whom to seek out at an event:

“The most important people at the conference are sitting next to you. Think Tom Peters gives a rat’s ass about your new business strategy? Is Seth Godin going to give you personalized marketing advice? Of course not. The people at any event who are most likely to have already faced your challenges (and maybe even solved them) aren’t the highly-paid keynoters, but rather your fellow attendees. They are like you. They can help you. Ignore them at your peril.”

Some of the most important people in my Rolodex are those I met at conferences around the country. They are high on my list of people to contact when I face client and marketing challenges — and they have not been shy about reaching out to me. Often their call has resulted in new business for me, and every time it has been a growth experience…. I encourage you to read and heed Matt’s advise.

What has worked for me, to keep my business growing, is to build great relationships with my clients, my staff, vendors and everyone else that surrounds my business. In other words, I’ve strived for partnerships in which we’ve come to acknowledge and honor what is important for each of us in the relationship – a process for which there are no shortcuts.

Great partnerships begin by acknowledging each others needs and requirements.

It comes down to what value each partner receives from the relationship and an exchange of trust – that we will deliver on our promises to each other.

In my business it meant taking the time to know if getting bigger was better. I’ve been happy to pass on any expansion or new service that did not contribute to making my partnerships work better – profits are always second to relationships for my business.

And I have noticed that good partnerships are simple and uncomplicated. Any relationship with too many parts, drama or compromises, for either person, will never bear fruit.

And finally, as awesome as technology can be … it cannot replace the visceral satisfaction of face-to-face social interaction. I am happy to be in conversations via (name your social tool here), but the partnerships that have worked for me have all started face-to-face.