Many people dislike meeting new people.
I’ve met many who dislike meeting officials and politicians that they don’t know or don’t necessarily agree with. They have a busy day job.
I’ve met many lobbyists in this camp. If you are one of them, you may want to consider an alternative career choice.
I’m asked how to prepare for meetings with officials and politicians.
I think there is an effective way to prepare for these meetings. Anyone can do it.
If you do do this right, you have a good chance to advance your case and help secure what you want.
I’ve attended many meetings while working for politicians, in the Commission, and elsewhere, where meetings went very badly. The interests self-sabotaged their own interests. They had not prepared and read the room disastrously.
I’ve seen and worked with a handful of people who did meetings well. They all had one thing in common. They prepared a lot in advance and rehearsed. Nothing was left to chance. Some were CEOs, leading scientists, NGO leaders, or heads of associations. They can’t be more than 10 (over 28 years). One CEO who had direct access to key people in European national capitals and DC, I learned, put in a lot of time and effort preparing for each meeting he had. He did not leave things to chance. His polished performance was never spontaneous. His company benefited greatly.
Technique
Step 1: Record a video of yourself on your phone saying what you plan to say.
Step 2: Watch your performance and delivery, and note as much detail as possible about what went right and what works. What do you want to do more of that you’re doing there? Write this down.
Step 3: Re-look and see what surprised you. What you weren’t expecting to see, and what needs work on. Write this down.
Step 4: Re-design. 1. Ask yourself what you want to keep and reinforce. 2. Recreate those things that need work, those things that just didn’t fit, or didn’t work, or you didn’t like, or things that weren’t expected.
Step 5: Practice in front of your camera again. Evaluate. Repeat Steps 2-4. Continue until you are comfortable.
Step 6: Rehearse in front of others (optional recommended).
Much the same point is made by Edward Tufte (Seeing with fresh eyes, meaning, space, data, truth, p. 153)
