Meeting names - a simple hack to make this prime real estate work harder for you

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Strategy discussion

 

Your meeting name is prime real estate, right there 👆.

It’s the thing people see in their calendar every day. The label on the bottle. 

But we don’t use this label very well.

Often we just shove together a few vague words and whack it in the diary (I've done it, you've done it...).

Most meetings are called something so generic that they invite participants to have different pictures in their head of what the session is about. 

And what about when your boss puts a slot in for next week, ominously titled "catch up"? 🫣

 

 

I get it - sometimes you just need to grab the space in the diary. 

But it takes, say, 60 seconds to create a meaningful name - once you have a strategy. And this label can work really hard for you, for example:

- Set the purpose and direction of the meeting

- Set the tone for contribution

- Get people interested

- Make it easy for people to know if they need to be there or not

- Get people thinking before the meeting

- .. and even foster psychological safety 

 

Obviously, the invitation text unpacks all this further… should people read it. But the meeting name will definitely be read - multiple times. 

It’s free, easy, quick - it’s a hack, essentially.

 

Let's get some naming strategies in your toolkit

 

💡  Here are some examples of how you can set the tone using meeting names.

  

Want to inspire people and focus them on a hugely important goal?

> Example meeting name:

Mission: Everyone Safe and Well 

  

Want to indicate this session is about solving problems rapidly? 

> Example meeting name:

Quickfire Sales Unblocker

 

Want to set up a safe space for people to share concerns and blockers? 

I like to use the real, human words I might actually say at the start.

> Example meeting name: 

How’s It Going?

 

Want to get people excited and intrigued?

> Example meeting name:

The Magic Maker

 

🟩 Here’s a strategy for scoping a meeting via the name:

 

Use a meeting question  

> Example meeting name:

How can we improve our NPS score?

  

You can riff on the question a bit e.g.

💡 Turn a meeting question into a -ing statement

> Example meeting name:

Improving our NPS score

  

💡 Make it a call up 

> Example meeting name:

Let’s improve our NPS score

 

💡 Or use it to create a focus for a regular meeting

> Example meeting name: 

Team meeting | Focus on: improving our NPS score

 

💨 Here’s a naming strategy for creating a sense of progress

 

If you have a project or meeting series with a finish line, you could signpost where each meeting is in the series e.g.

> Example meeting name:

Project X: How’s It Going For You? (session 5/8). 

 

This helps orient everyone around stage of the journey.  

If it’s a monthly meeting, perhaps you might signpost where you are in the year e.g. (session 5/12) - again, just giving people some more data to help them use the time well.

 

🌱 Here's how you might frame an emergent conversation

 

It's not always about nailing it down - tighter, more specific, zoomed in. You might also use the name to indicate that the conversation will be exploratory and organic.

 

> Example meeting name:

Carrie <> Surina: Totally Wide Open Thought Exchange

or

> Example meeting name:

Carrie <> Surina: What Matters Now

 

💪 Here’s a naming strategy for creating psychological safety (or strength)

Imagine you are bringing people together to resolve some tricky issues which might be a bit emotionally sensitive e.g. tension between two teams.

 

Use a How Might We (or How Could We) question

Both these questions are neutral and full of possibility. The acknowledge the issue but focus everyone on the solution.

> Example meeting name:

“How could we make it easy to work together?” 

 

> Example meeting name:

“How might we reverse our customer churn rate?”

 

Neutral, hopeful questions diffuse tribal behaviour and encourages clean communication (which, if you remember from a previous newsletter, is communicating with high honesty, high respect and high care for the work at hand).

  

Re-naming is a good way to reset

If the meeting you are looking at in this module is a regular scheduled meeting, a new name can provide a good signpost for a reset…

 

TL:DR

Use your meeting name to create clarity - not disperse it.

Think about words that will bring people together in the way you want.