Online Public Relations Thoughts

Normally I dislike meetings. I detest long meetings where everyone sits and listens to one then another person bloviating. But, there is a meeting where this is essential -- and tolerable. That is when an entity is coalition building. There is a reason to listen to each person because one is trying to gain his or her participation in a venture. The Constitutional Congress, for example, was such a meeting. Issue after issue was raised then hammered until a document was written that expressed the consensus that was reached.

I experienced such a meeting yesterday -- seven hours of it. It was interesting to watch the parties in the room meld differences into a unified view of how a project should go forward. Yes, discussions would derail for awhile and get off the point, but slowly and surely participants worked to a unified view of what needed to be done. It was worth the hours spent to see the outcome. That written, I'm going to avoid meetings for a few days to decompress. One long meeting every few months is about all I can handle.