 |
| Always have a microphone available for people who want to be heard |
Attending my first Annual General Meeting (AGM) was surprisingly pleasant AND enjoyable. I thought about how my first AGM would unfold over and over again in my head all throughout the day. To be honest, the one question that kept popping up was: "How boring would this thing be?"
It was more interesting than I thought.
Just recently, I got a job with a non-profit organization in my hometown, Winnipeg. It was mandatory to attend the AGM and that was why I was at a hotel conference centre in the Polo Park area this afternoon.
I should also say this was the first time I'd be meeting the staff in the office so my palms were 3.5x sweatier than normal. But my nervousness proved to be short-lived because the people I'd be working with were all friendly. Everyone was easy to talk to which made it very easy for me to feel welcomed.
We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel before the AGM started and I thought that was a great way to get to know everyone. It was great interacting with everyone - something I looked for in a work place setting. Needless to say, my spirits were high even before the AGM started.
At 7:00 p.m., the President facilitated the opening of the meeting and the evening was underway.
I didn't know what to expect. In my mind, I pictured people sitting on stiff-cushioned banquet hall chairs in front of round tables draped with a coarse, white table cloth. I also expected people to be really serious and the only sound you would hear would the sound of the person's voice at the podium.
I was pleasantly mistaken.
The setup was rows of chairs facing one rectangle table in front where the board of directors sat. Located on the right side was the podium and there was another mike setup in the middle of the row so people in the audience could voice their opinions when invited.
The biggest thing that surprised me was the laughter.
As the formalities commenced, I found myself lost in the lingo of voting for movements and sanctions and stuff I didn't really understand. (Not sure if that last sentence made sense.)
I was surprised when the audience laughed about a small kerfuffle by one of the board of directors and staff member. It really changed the tone of the evening for me since thinking AGMs were all serious. It really made sense that the tone of the evening was the way it was. It came down to "knowing your audience" like we learned in public relations class. As a communicator, you needed to know who would be present at the AGM so you could prepare yourself and how you would conduct yourself in the event something goes wrong. You needed to know when to be serious and when to just laugh it off.
The laughing made the mood welcoming, pleasant, and friendly for those in the audience. I thought the benefit of a lighter tone was more audience participation which was important in AGMs because you would want to hear as many opinions as you could to improve the organization.
I should really start to consider myself as an adult.
I've been in school since I was four years old. I've been programmed to think school was for kids and working was for adults. Being 28 years old didn't really help as I'm still in school at the moment.
As I sat in the AGM, I thought to myself: "Wow, this is real adult stuff. Look at all the people around me... they have beards, fancy suits, and sound like they really, really know what they're talking about."
I mean I knew they were older than me but I was still enamored by the fact that I was sitting in an AGM for work... that this AGM somehow affected me in a very important level.
That was when it started to become interesting.
I had a personal stake in the AGM as marketing coordinator for the organization and was really the biggest reason I paid attention.
Once I flipped the switch in my mind, all the information I was hearing all of a sudden sounded so cool - like the speaker was directly talking to me. It was like a crash course on the organization I was going to work for in 11 days. I start in my new role on April 11, 2011.
What was particularly interesting to me was the health the organization was in. It was nice to hear they made more money than the previous year and continued to have positive growth. I was proud to sit in front row as an employee knowing that what I would soon be a contributor to those numbers and to the greater cause of the organization.
Then my name was called.
I didn't really anticipate my boss calling my name and making me stand. He got to the part of his report where he talked about his staff contributions and my name was first on the list (Agpalza). He said something like how I haven't even officially started yet but was there to attend the AGM. When he called my name I raised my hand like how I would in public relations class when my instructor, Melanie, would call attendance. Oops. He asked me to stand up so I did, turned around, and waved to the crowd. A bit awkward but I found it funny.
The AGM was done in about an hour and a half. I stood outside with my co-workers and they told me it was a quick meeting this year. In past AGMs, they stayed until 10:00 p.m., and one time, until midnight! I really thought it took long but hearing about the past AGMs made me glad it wasn't one of those times we had to stay longer.
The AGM was neat. I got to learn about the organization in less than two hours and got valuable insight where the company was headed. There were lots of information thrown around and given out and it made me think what the director of marketing and communications had to do to make the event possible. But I knew the answer: lots!! Lots of preparation went into the AGM like how we learned in public relations class. Next year, I'm going to be a part of the preparation and it would be very interesting to see what all went into the process of preparing. Just another thing I'll have to learn as a communicator!
No comments:
Post a Comment