Human Fund Development: A Meeting Poem
A couple of years ago, my friend Joe tipped me off to a great use of corporate meetings: poetry! Crafting poetry using only the words or phrases spoken at a meeting (and, if you like, only in the order spoken or repeated). This is much better than even buzzword bingo, and has the added advantage of making you pay very. close. attention. to everything said. I wrote a fair bit of meeting poetry during my last few months in the non-profit management world, but have largely discarded the practice as a freelancer.
While sifting through closet junk, I just stumbled upon what I consider to be my greatest meeting poem, composed about two years ago during a marathon day of meetings (Entenmann’s for breakfast, take-out for lunch, fun size candy bars for afternoon snack…). This poem was created from words and phrases as they were spoken or repeated. (People actually repeat a lot of what’s said at meetings, after all).
Posted here well after the fact for all the world to read.
(It’s long, so it’s after the jump…)
Human Fund Development: A Meeting Poem
Everyone go down at once from the field.
Show hands!
Get the 10″ inflated balls out of Ohio.
Really cool.
Juvenile extras,
Be nice to Bill.
Gidget from Rochester
Learns Spanish 101 and a half.
Universal handshake customers
Acknowledge that you see them.
Sign up, coordinate cross-functional relationships.
Executive housekeeping list? Email for details.
Parking PowerPoint requests,
Mary Kaye budgets,
and extra testing for social security.
Focus on skills training.
Focus, global focus.
The rich get richer and the poor have children.
Radiation machine, punch a button,
Talk about STDs.
Running against the TANF clock.
The waiting list is long, extensions are not granted,
Thank you for moving on.
Legislative breakfast will only be used in case of an emergency.
We are bombarded by change all the time,
Comes from
People, technology, knowledge, 60 billion people,
Can you imagine?
Have you seemed busier?
Digest the chaos as a trapeze artist.
Information, information, information.
The steering committee, those jerks, say
Speed it up. Deal with change. Easily.
Pivot tables, visuals, executive summaries, satisfaction survyes
Can cause traumatic brain injury,
are not covered by under worker’s comp.
The clients upstairs represent a call to action.
Business as usual.
Business as usual.
Work through lunch.
Business as usual.
Order Chinese food.
Pilot a budget for mimosas for Spring, and Google
June for deliverables.
Mucky mucks provide computers, workshop freshman
for community relations. Jealous?
Here’s my wish list:
Cultivate standards
More mentoring
Wide open possibilities
Distance management
Nice climate
Scholarships for excitement.
