The booking process was chaotic when I took over managing the meeting rooms. Each room had a giant paper calendar outside the door for people to book their meetings. This created a mess. The log would disappear, people would write over other meetings, and overall, it was ignored. Ridiculous, right?
So, my first step was to move everything into Outlook. Each meeting room got its own digital calendar. Colleagues could send requests, and I would accept or decline based on availability. It sounds simple enough, but I hadn’t accounted for people. Adults would throw full-on tantrums when they couldn’t get the room they wanted. Colleagues would come to my desk to request a room without checking the calendar first. They would try to barter for a room. There was a lot of swapping and other drama that made the process tiring! Getting the basics right is a key task for Personal and Executive Assistants.
That was almost ten years ago.
Reflecting on this made me realize how absurd the system was. One of the biggest problems was that we were at the height of meeting mania. Everyone had a meeting. Today, we’re much more aware of how unproductive meetings can be, so I hope you don’t have quite the same issues managing your meeting rooms. Still, I think you might face challenges with the booking process. Here are my top tips for managing meeting rooms (all from experience):
Ground Rules for Meetings
If there’s a shortage of meeting rooms and you’re managing them, you’re within your rights to ask what the meeting is for and if it really needs a private space. I wrote a blog post recently on setting ground rules for meetings, which is worth reading and can be applied to managing meeting rooms.
I also implemented a strict policy that each room had to be cleared of empty coffee cups, paper, and other clutter at the end of each meeting. If colleagues left the room messy, it was amazing how the following week there were “no meeting rooms available” for them…
Use Technology to Help
Back in the day, I didn’t have much technology to work with, so I used Outlook and sheer determination to get my colleagues to manage their bookings. I wanted to automate the process as much as possible to avoid spending all my time on it. Today, many platforms can help automate this process, and some are really good. Yes, you still have to deal with people, but technology—and the fact that people are having fewer meetings—means this task can be less time-consuming. Here are some platforms to consider if you’re still using Outlook:
- Get a Room is a simple platform that lets users book conference rooms and add services like catering if needed. The front end is a straightforward calendar, while the back end is user-friendly and provides valuable data to help manage the process.
- Teem is an app you can set up on an iPad placed outside the meeting space for bookings (I recommend securing the iPad).
- Skedda is mainly used for co-working spaces, but it’s useful for managing hot desks too.
- YArooms has all the features of a complete meeting room management system.
- Outlook is still a solid option. Here’s a tutorial video on setting up meeting room calendars in Outlook.
Have a ‘First Come, First Serve’ Room
Hopefully, your office has a space for informal meetings that colleagues can use in a pinch. If not, consider reserving one room as a ‘first come, first serve’ space. Let colleagues know it’s available but shouldn’t be abused. Make sure you clearly communicate what it’s for and don’t manage its bookings!
Create Unique Spaces
It would be great if each meeting room had a unique theme to inspire creativity and productivity, though that’s often not the case. If your meeting spaces are named ‘Meeting Room 1, 2, 3, etc.,’ it’s likely to cause confusion. Make sure each meeting room has a different name, clearly labeled on the door, and include this in the booking process.
I hope these tips make this challenging task a bit easier. Good luck with managing your meeting rooms!
Creating Awesome Presentations
At some point in an Assistant’s career, they’ll be asked to put together a slide deck for their Executive. This could be for a board presentation, a meeting with staff, or a client pitch.
Whatever the occasion, the slides must reflect the key points your Executive wants to convey. In the past, I’ve been handed scraps of paper and asked to turn them into something visually stunning—which isn’t easy when you’re trying to think like someone else and create a slide that reflects their main points (if they even have one!).
Creating slides for your Executive can be a creative outlet. It’s a piece of your work that others will see and appreciate, something that doesn’t always happen for Assistants.
Here’s my ultimate guide to creating presentations and acing a key task for Personal and Executive Assistants.
Should your boss even be using slides? The best presentations are stories, with slides as support. If your boss is a strong speaker, they should rely on slides minimally.
Slides should come last. Without a key message and structure, you can’t develop slides. Make sure your Executive has a clear outline before starting.
Single points per slide. Each slide should have one focus. Use animations for bullet points so each point appears as they speak. Separate charts onto individual slides so they appear as your boss refers to them.
Avoid walls of text. Slides are there to reinforce points, not to overwhelm. Use handouts for detailed information.
Flow of information. Each slide should keep the audience in sync with what’s being said.
Use images thoughtfully. Avoid WordArt or ClipArt. Strong visuals make a presentation memorable.
Get creative. Make slides visually engaging and distinct from generic templates. Simple, readable designs work best.
High-quality images. Poor visuals can look unprofessional. Use high-resolution images for a polished look.
Minimal text, more images. Images are visually appealing and convey points effectively. If you must use text, ensure it’s readable for the whole audience.
Keep bullet points minimal. Round up your points on one slide at the end if needed.
Consistent alignment. A centered title with left-aligned text doesn’t look great. Stick with left alignment for a clean look.
Simple trick in a pinch. If you’re short on time, white text on a black background is modern and clean.
Consistency across slides. Stick to one theme, font, and color. If your company has a theme, consider only using it for the first and last slides.
Topic transition slides. If covering multiple topics, add a transition slide to indicate topic changes.
Great cover page. Start with a captivating cover slide to pull in the audience from the start.
Set video clips to ‘click to play.’ Prevent surprises by ensuring your boss controls the video start.
Backup the slides. Make sure there’s a backup online or on a USB and give your boss time to check the presentation beforehand.
For further reading, check out presentation design sites like Canva, Presentation Zen, Haiku Deck, and Duarte.
How to Sign Off Correspondence on Behalf of Your Executive
Sometimes, I look through my manager’s inbox and can’t believe how much stuff they get sent. Set aside emails from colleagues and clients—they also receive hundreds of emails from professional organizations, upcoming conferences, travel companies, and countless sales requests.
Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned what they get through the mail… brochures, leaflets, magazines, and corporate gifts, to name just a few. Managing our executive’s correspondence can be a full-time job on its own, especially since the more senior the executive becomes, the more stuff they seem to receive. One of my executives once received a whole fresh salmon in the mail. We had no idea where it came from, and despite our best efforts, we never did find out!
The most important part of our role is to maximize the time our managers spend on actual business matters, ensuring we are the first person to review all of their correspondence. This is a key task for Personal and Executive Assistants. In return, they trust us to handle it fully. Some executives will hand this task over to their assistants on day one, others may need a little coaxing, and some will hold onto their correspondence with a steely grip—woe to anyone who messes with their emails! The benefits of handling our manager’s correspondence should be pretty obvious. Over the years, I’ve implemented a few systems to help make the process of transferring correspondence from manager to assistant smoother. Hopefully, even the most reluctant executive will give you a trial run with these suggestions!
Set up some standard replies to frequent requests
I recommend setting up standard responses for frequent requests like dinner invites, event details, and sales proposals. Write a draft response, run it past your manager, and, if they approve, save it as a standard reply. I believe that every email that comes into our manager’s inbox should be answered (remember, we’re managing their reputation as much as their schedule—do we want our managers to be known as someone who doesn’t respond to emails?), so these standard responses will save us loads of time. For dinner and conference requests, something short and sweet, like this, works well:
Dear…
Thank you for your kind invitation to … Unfortunately, Mr. Executive will not be able to attend due to a prior commitment. Please accept my apology on behalf of Mr. Executive.
Kind regards,
[Name of the Assistant]
For an inappropriate sales request, you may need to be a little more direct, keeping the response polite but firm. You may want to use your manager’s email (and sign off in their name) for sales responses, so the salesperson believes they’ve received a definitive answer from the main contact rather than the gatekeeper.
Dear…
We appreciate you taking the time to share information about your company. This isn’t something we’re interested in, so please go ahead and remove us from your mailing list.
Kind regards,
[Name of the Assistant]
Keep the standard responses saved in a document, copy and paste as needed, and hit send. Task complete!
Which correspondence should you handle directly?
Again, discuss this with your manager before completely taking over their correspondence. Obvious messages for an Assistant to handle include sales inquiries, dinner/event invitations, anything related to their schedule, thank-you notes for gifts or corporate hospitality. Other types of email correspondence can be trickier. If my manager is traveling, I’ll respond to every “important” email with a holding note. I’ll copy my manager into the email, so they know I’ve sent a holding message. They can then tell me how to handle it or respond directly. My holding email looks like this:
Dear…
Thank you for your note. Just to let you know, Mrs. Executive is on a business trip. She will respond to your email as soon as possible. In the meantime, if there’s anything I can help with or if you’d like to speak to another team member, please let me know.
Kind regards,
[Name of Assistant]
For every email my manager receives regarding a meeting request, I’ll do one of two things. If I know about the meeting, I’ll schedule it and send a meeting request to the participants. I’ll then update my manager in our daily catch-up meeting. If I don’t know what the meeting is about, I’ll go back to the requester to ask for more information and either run this by my manager or schedule the meeting depending on the information I receive. To request more details, I’ll ask:
- What is the reason for the meeting?
- How long do you need?
- Do you have an agenda?
- Is there any paperwork that can be sent over before the meeting?
- Could this be a phone call instead of a face-to-face meeting?
- Is my manager aware of the subject being discussed?
- Who else will be attending the meeting?
Systems for Correspondence
If your manager trusts you implicitly, they don’t need to see all correspondence. However, I think it’s worth keeping a record (just in case). I keep a folder in my email system titled “Executive Correspondence.” I move all emails I’ve handled into this folder along with my responses. This clears my manager’s inbox and leaves only the emails they need to handle directly. Once a year, I archive the folder so it doesn’t clog up my email. If your manager wants to stay in the loop, there are several options to help. Some Assistants use Outlook’s flag system to draw their manager’s attention to emails that have been handled. Others prefer to cc their manager on everything. The choice is yours, and it’s one your boss should approve.
Sign Off Correspondence with Your Name
Except for sales correspondence! Assistants should sign off correspondence on behalf of their boss with their own name. It shows our managers respect and trust us, that we’re in control of their schedule, and that we’re the real gatekeepers. If you hide behind your manager’s name, why would colleagues come to you first instead of going directly to your boss? Colleagues and clients need to know to come to you first.
