Message #65792

[raindance]

I can't break it down into "so many meetings a week".  I plan about thirty meetings a year which fall into about five or six groups, and have different levels of involvement in each group.  A few meetings are once a year only, some are three or four times a year, some are once a month.  We have four Board meetings a year, most of which last a whole day but one last two consecutive days.  

Then there are "ad hoc" meetings which are scheduled several times a year for various members of the senior management team and our Board of Directors.

Most of our meetings take place on site as we have a splendid suite of meeting rooms with catering services etc available (saves on costs and we hire them out to generate income).  Some meetings take place elsewhere.  The small "ad hoc" meetings I mentioned above are usually scheduled off-site and take place in a venue where our Chief Executive is a member.  Our Board decamps from headquarters once a year to meet elsewhere.  That entails arranging hotels, travel, food, meeting facilities and so on for about thirty people.  

Special events: I arrange dinners, lunches and tea meetings for different numbers of SMT and Board members at prestigious venues.  There's always a serious purpose behind the special events, so I never lose sight of that in the planning, but I really enjoy them because they are fun and I've had the opportunity to go to really nice places.  It just makes my job that bit more interesting if I can get out and about to meet people.