With 2025 just around the corner, now is a great time to think about work resolutions for the new year. If you’re an Executive Assistant (EA) or a meeting planner, no doubt much of this will involve improving in-person meeting experience while streamlining the planning process.
There’s much more to improving meetings than simply working harder. It’s about working smarter.
We share tips that will help you transform the way you plan and orchestrate in-person meetings in 2025, from new technologies to organizational tricks.
One of the best (but sometimes neglected) ways to improve your meetings is through attendee feedback.
As an EA or meeting planner, your work is largely done on behalf of others. For a meeting, oftentimes you’re not experiencing the meeting firsthand, unlike those you planned it for. This makes it so much more important to gather insights from attendees so that you can continuously improve the meeting experience for them and ensure you’re always running enjoyable, purposeful meetings that matter. This not only creates a better attendee experience, but also can make planning, managing, and booking meeting details a breeze for yourself.
It’s recommended to do an attendee survey both before and after an in-person meeting occurs. A pre-meeting survey should address logistical needs and operational preferences for smooth planning. A post-meeting survey should ask about their experience for future improvements.
Not sure where to start? Don’t fret. TROOP has created a handy downloadable template filled with useful questions to get you started.
AI and technology will be essential allies for you in 2025 when it comes to organizing in-person meetings (and a whole lot more). Technology doesn't just make your life easier when it comes to efficiency and task loads, it also enables you to make more informed decisions.
TROOP, for example, lets you compare meeting destinations, manage attendee travel logistics, and estimate overall costs so that you can make important decisions in minutes versus spending hours on research and manual work. Saving yourself time and your company money is a win-win.
Beyond TROOP, tools like Trello can keep projects on track by identifying potential blockers early. Otter.ai handles real-time transcription of meeting discussions, and AI assistants like ChatGPT or Gemini can draft meeting agendas and summarize minutes in seconds.