GT reading test IEGT 10

How to Set Up a Business Meeting

Multiple meetings occur each second of every day. And it's easy to suspect that many of them prove to be ineffective. Why is that?

For an answer, consider the purpose of meetings. I'd suggest that meetings exist to nudge ahead progress. Even if it's only a slight move, when the meeting attendees exit, the subject of the meeting has to have changed in some way (hopefully for the better). You need structure to accomplish that. Here are five steps that will help you
hold effective meetings--sessions that move subjects forward.

1. Be a reporter. Make sure you let your attendees know the who, what, why, when and where of the meeting. It prefaces the agenda. It might look like this:

Who: Members of the Retired Executive Group (name the actual names)
What: Decide on a formal group name
Why: To establish a formal group structure
When: February 17, 2009 from 3 to 4 p.m.
Where: Starbucks at 2111 S. Glen Street in Harwood Heights
A reporter informs readers. That's what has been done here.
What happens at the meeting? That's what's in the agenda

2. Set an agenda. This means clearly listing the objective of the meeting and supporting points using specifics. For example, here's an agenda for a meeting I ran for a business group I'm involved with:

- Objective is to select a name for the group
- Start a 10-minute brainstorming session
- Record results
- Cull the names down to five
- Check domain availability
- Debate those names where a domain is available
- Select a final name

This agenda not only provided a clear objective--to walk away from that meeting with a name--it provided the steps the attendees would take to do it. If we followed the agenda, we would make our goal. And we would have moved our subject forward.

3. Send out the agenda (via email or snail mail) 5 to 7 days ahead of time. You want your attendees to be aware, to prepare and to be there.
It doesn't always happen, of course. I find that, if you have 10 attendees, 10 will be aware of some of the agenda (usually the five w's), two will prepare and seven will be there. That's OK. You can only control your actions.
Also, call all of the attendees 2 days prior to remind them of the meeting.

4. Have copies of the agenda at the meeting. Most of the attendees will not bring the agenda with them, so have copies ready. Distribute and read through it when everyone shows up. Now you can begin the session with everyone on a level field.

5. Start and finish on time. If inclement weather or other common factors exist, you can delay the meeting. Otherwise, I suggest starting right at the time you noted on the agenda. If someone comes in late, that's OK. Acknowledge him, give him an agenda and keep going. He'll catch up on his own.

One of the most frustrating things I've experienced in meetings is when a 1-hour session turns into 90 minutes without it being mentioned by the facilitator. Believe me, you'll be given silent but heartfelt kudos when you end the meeting ahead of or on time, or inform the attendees that it may go overtime.

And what's better than not only advancing your subject, but doing it with an aura of good will?

BENEFICIAL WORK PRACTICES FOR THE KEYBOARD OPERATOR

A Sensible work practices are an important factor in the prevention of muscular fatigue; discomfort or pain in the arms, neck, hands or back; or eye strain which can be associated with constant or regular work at a keyboard and visual display unit (VDU).

B It is vital that the employer pays attention to the physical setting such as workplace design, the office environment, and placement of monitors as well as the organisation of the work and individual work habits. Operators must be able to recognise work-related health problems and be given the opportunity to participate in the management of these. Operators should take note of and follow the preventive measures outlined below.

C The typist must be comfortably accommodated in a chair that is adjustable for height with a back rest that is also easily adjustable both for angle and height. The back rest and sitting ledge (with a curved edge) should preferably be cloth-covered to avoid excessive perspiration.

D When the keyboard operator is working from a paper file or manuscript, it should be at the same distance from the eyes as the screen. The most convenient position can be found by using some sort of holder. Individual arrangement will vary according to whether the operator spends more time looking at the VDU or the paper – whichever the eyes are focused on for the majority of time should be put directly in front of the operator.

E While keying, it is advisable to have frequent but short pauses of around thirty to sixty seconds to proofread. When doing this, relax your hands. After you have been keying for sixty minutes, you should have a ten minute change of activity. During this spell it is important that you do not remain seated but stand up or walk around. This period could be profitably used to do filing or collect and deliver documents.

F Generally, the best position for a VDU is at right angles to the window. If this is not possible then glare from the window can be controlled by blinds, curtains or movable screens. Keep the face of the VDU vertical to avoid glare from overhead lighting.

G Unsatisfactory work practices or working conditions may result in aches or pain. Symptoms should be reported to your supervisor early on so that the cause of the trouble can be corrected and the operator should seek medical attention.

Three stages for dealing with a complaint

'How was it for you?' has a maximum of three stages for dealing with a complaint.
Stage 1
Complaint will be dealt with by front line staff or manager of the service

Once you have made your complaint you can expect a full response within 10 working days. If we aren't able to deal with your complaint in full within this time we will contact you to advise you of the delay and to let you know when you can expect a full response.

Stage 2
Complaint will be reviewed by an appropriate senior manager.

If you are not happy with the outcome from stage 1, contact the customer feedback co-ordinator. They will arrange a review of your complaint. This review and response will not be by the same person who dealt with your complaint at stage 1. Again you can expect a full response within 10 working days or we will contact you to advise
you of the delay and to let you know when you can expect a full response.

Stage 3
Complaint will be reviewed by the Director or a member of staff independent of the service acting on the Director's behalf. If you are not happy with the outcome from stage 2, contact the customer feedback co-ordinator. Our final review and response will be undertaken by the Director or a member of staff acting on the Director's behalf. As for the previous stages you can expect a full response within 10 working days or we will contact you to advise of the delay and to let you know when you can expect a full response.

If the stage 3 review doesn't resolve your complaint and you want to take it further. you will need to take it to the Local Government Ombudsman.

If after any stage you don't get back to us within four weeks of our response to you we will consider that you have been satisfied with the response you have received.

As part of our ongoing improvement activities we will review each quarter by randomly selecting customers who have made a complaint and ask them how well they think we handled their complaint and whether they have any suggestions on how we could improve our complaints process.

Where else can you get help?

You may wish to ask for help at any stage from friends or relatives, your local councillor or MP.

The Citizens' Advice Bureau have staff who can help you make the complaint. Visit the Citizens' Advice Bureau website for more information.

Getting your complaint assessed by an independent body
You can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, an independent organisation which will investigate any sort of complaint about the council. But they will only do this after you've been through all of the stages of the council's complaints procedure.

Please ring the Customer Centre if you are unsure who you should contact about your complaint

Giving Presentations

The presentation is starting. Dim the lights. Time for a nap. These are the thoughts of many audiences subject to yet another boring business presentation. How can you awaken the cognitive powers of your audience? Start by learning the 8 secrets of a knockout business presentation.

A. Dig Deep
Having an effective business presentation that will have the audience on their feet requires more than the usual factoid dropped into your PowerPoint. Find a relevant fact beyond your topic norm. Give them the unexpected. The one obscure and contradictory piece of information that will raise heads and stimulate discussion. Where do you find such information? Go past the typical quick search engine scan.
Check out educational websites for new research, interview industry mavericks, or scour the business press.

B. Avoid Info Overload
PowerPoint expert Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points says, "When you overload your audience, you shut down the dialogue that's an important part of decision-making." He points to some important research by educational psychologists. "When you remove interesting but irrelevant words and pictures from a screen, you can increase the audience's ability to remember the information by 189% and the ability to apply the information by 109%," recommends Atkinson.

C. Practice Delivery
A knockout business presentation is so captivating it makes you forget about the speaker and become absorbed in the talk. Practice your delivery over and over until you remove the distractions including nervous tics and uncomfortable pauses. Pay particular attention to your body language. Is it non-existent or overly excessive?
Good presenters work the stage in a natural manner.

D. Forget Comedy
Business presenters will flirt with the temptation to deliver the stand up humor of Chris Rock. Remember your audience didn't come to laugh; this is a business presentation. Leave your jokes at home. It's OK to throw in a few natural off the cuff laughs but don't overdo it.

E. Pick Powerful Props
You don't need a box full of props like the watermelon-smashing comic, Gallagher. A few simple props to demonstrate a point can be memorable in the minds of your target audience. Management guru, Tom Peters, uses a cooking timer to show how quickly factory expansion is occurring in China.

F. Minimize You
"Frankly, your audience doesn't care as much about your company history, as they do about whether you can help them solve the specific problems they face. Write a script for your presentation that makes the audience the protagonist, or the main character, who faces a problem that you will help them to solve," says Atkinson.

G. Speak the Language
A knockout business presentation doesn't leave people wondering what you said. It might be tempting to throw in a few big words but are you alienating your audience? Always explain terms and acronyms. The number of smart executives who aren't up on the latest terminology would surprise you.

H. Simple Slides
Beware of the PowerPoint presentation. Many corporate brains will turn off at the sight of yet another PowerPoint presentation. Over 400 million desktops currently have the PowerPoint application. If you want your business to stand out, don't be like everyone else. Use slides in your knockout presentation to highlight and emphasize key points. Don't rely on your slide projector to run the show.
It all comes down to what your audience walks away with in the end. Did you deliver another boring business presentation? Or did you persuade or motivate everyone to action? Apply the eight secrets to a knockout presentation and watch your ratings soar.

Words fail them

It seems companies will soon begin to say goodbye to the written word. The basic unit of communication will no longer be typed out in e-mails. It will be shot in pictures and shown on video. Companies have already discovered that the written word is failing them. Its feebleness compared with the moving image was rammed home in 2010 when the sight of BP's oil spewing out into the Gulf of Mexico on YouTube sent a message to the world far more compelling than any written statement could ever be.

B. If the word has become weak at conveying big corporate messages, it has become even weaker at conveying small ones. For years the in-boxes of all office workers have been overflowing with unread e-mails. But managers will do something about it and desist from communicating with staff in this way. E-mail will still exist as a way of talking to one person at a time, but as a means of mass communication it will be finished. Companies will find instead that to get a message over to employees, customers, shareholders and the outside world, video is far more effective.

C. In the past three years video has come from nothing to make up nearly half of internet traffic; in another three, it is likely to be more than three-quarters. So far corporations have taken a back seat in this growth, but they will soon need to climb into the front and start to drive it.

D. This shift in communications will have three important effects. It will change the sort of person who makes it to the corner office. It will alter the way that businesses are managed. And it will shift the position corporations occupy in society and possibly make us like some of them just a little bit more.

E. The new corporate leaders will no longer be pen pushers and bean counters. The 20-year reign of faceless bosses will come to an end. Charisma will be back in: all successful business chiefs will have to be storytellers and performers. Just as political leaders have long had to be dynamite on TV to stand much hope of election or survival, so too will corporate leaders. They must be able to sell not only their vision of their companies but their vision of themselves. The new big boss will be expected to set an example; any leaders showing signs of human frailty will be out on their ears. The moral majority will tighten its hold on corporate life, first in America, but then elsewhere too.

F. With this shift will come a change in management style. Numbers and facts will be supplanted by appeals to emotion to make employees and customers do what they are told. The businessperson's emotion may be no more genuine than the politician's, but successful bosses will get good at faking it. Others will struggle: prepare to cringe in as corporate leaders spout a lot of phoney stuff that used to look bad enough when written down, but will sound even worse spoken.

G. One good consequence of the change, however, will be a greater clarity in the way companies think about their businesses. The written word was a forgiving medium for over-complicated, ill-conceived messages. Video demands simplicity. The bestcompanies will use this to their advantage by thinking through more rigorouslywhat it is they are trying to say and do.

Questions 8-14

The text on the next page has seven sections, A–G.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–x, in boxes 15–21 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i How can reflection problems be avoided?

ii How long should I work without a break?

iii What if I experience any problems?

iv When is the best time to do filing chores?

v What makes a good seat?

vi What are the common health problems?

vii What is the best kind of lighting to have?

viii What are the roles of management and workers?

ix Why does a VDU create eye fatigue?

x Where should I place the documents?

Section A 8

Section B 9

Section C 10

Section D 11

Section E 12

Section F 13

Section G 14

Questions 15-21

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?
TRUE - if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE - if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this

The organisation deals with all complaints within 10 working days. 15
If you are not satisfied after Stage 1, you should contact a senior manager. 16
Stage 3 is the organisation's final review stage. 17
The organisation assumes you are happy if you do not respond back at any stage
within 4 weeks. 18
The organisation's quarterly review is well-received by customers. 19
The quarterly review invites all customers to give their feedback. 20
You can not avoid stages 1-3 by requesting independent assessment. 21

Questions 22-27

The text has eight sections, A - H. Which section contains the following information?

avoiding distancing your listeners 22
consider using realia to make a point 23
a mention of 8 secrets to success 24
helping your audience to use what you are giving them 25
the need for rehearsal 26
a problem-solution approach 27

Questions 28-32

The text has seven paragraphs, A - G. Which paragraph contains the following

information?

28 The need for managers to understand peoples' feelings 28

29 A tool which will be used when communicating with just a single person 29

30 How personality will become more important 30

31 An example of video's power compared to the written word 31

32 A need for corporate change 32

Questions 33-35

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

One change which is predicted is that in order to motivate 33 , managers

will use different techniques, for example, using 34 rather than data.

Another change, and no doubt a positive one, is that because of the need for 35 when using video, companies will have to bring more clarity to their business.

Questions 36-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?
TRUE - if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE - if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this
Large corporations are already using video extensively. 36
We will probably like the managers of corporations a lot more. 37
Business leaders will have to be seen in public. 38
A business leaders ability to sell themselves will become more important. 39
The new bosses will have to be physically stronger. 40

Notepad

Part 1

Questions 1-7

Part 2