Speaker 1: some considerations for external people. So sometimes you'll be inviting people to your meetings that don't work for your company. It might be a vendor, it might be another company, a partner, it might be somebody, an external client or some description. Now these needs a little bit of extra considerations. Firstly, allow extra time. Your external visitor may well be journeying to your office from the other side of the city or even a different city. Make sure you've considered this time slot of your meeting accordingly and that you've made it so that it's convenient for them. You don't want someone to be struggling with transport, potentially get to a meeting late, to be running across the city, to have to hop into a taxi to get somewhere. You want it to be suitable for them. If they arrive in the city at 8.30 in the morning, for example, well, maybe nine o'clock is a good time to start. Maybe they don't get into the city until later. Well, in that case, consider a later meeting. It's always a good idea to check with them to make sure that the meeting suits their schedule. Again, that's very respectful, it builds a reputation. And sometimes your external visitor might actually be in the city for a different meeting with another client or another person around about the same time. Well, it's a good idea to check with them and say, are you in the area at all next week? And make sure you can sync up at the same time. That way it's more efficient for everybody. It's very courteous. Again, it builds your reputation as somebody who's not just thinking about themselves, they're thinking about other people. Also build in extra time for your external guests to get through the signing in process at your organisation. It's likely they'll have to get a security pass or something of that description. There might even be a queue at the security desk or at reception. You don't want that to force somebody to potentially be late. So add a little bit of extra time and factor the entrance process in to your meeting request. Don't rush them into the meeting. I have on occasion seen some external people come into meetings and they arrive, they sign in, they go upstairs, they've still got their jackets on, they're unpacking things and they're rushed into the meeting room and bang, they're off meeting time. Well, that's not particularly courteous. If somebody's had to travel across a city, for example, or it's early in the morning, well, give them a bit of time to decompress. Make sure you offer them a drink. Make sure you give them a couple of minutes to unpack and start the meeting in a nice, comfortable and relaxed way. Getting stuck into the agenda before somebody's even had a chance to power up their laptop or take off their jacket, and I've seen it happen, is not respectful. It's not courteous. It means you're not considering that person. So the more you can help put people at ease by simply offering them some refreshments is a very good thing to do. Pre-validate technology. Sometimes your external guest will be coming to your organisation and they may have some materials to share. They may be bringing a laptop. Well, make sure that you've checked that their laptop is compatible with your AV system. Make sure that they've got the right cables. Make sure they have the right compatibility. Make sure you know how to use the AV systems in meeting room 5B where you're going to be. It might be different to the regular meeting rooms that you go to. Make sure they've got the right cables. Make sure they've got a guest Wi-Fi account if they need one. Make sure that they have the relevant access to be able to share the materials that they need. And make sure you have got the number of AV support on hand in case there's a problem or in case you can't get it working. I've seen it on too many occasions where somebody comes in and there's six people huddled around a laptop because none of you can work out how to get the big screen working. That's pretty embarrassing. Another consideration for external guests coming to your organisation for a meeting is it's very important to be aware of confidentiality. When you're bringing people from other companies into your workplace, you are responsible for them. You're responsible for their conduct, their behaviour. You're responsible for their safety and everything else. Make sure that when you walk them to the meeting room, you do it in the right way. Make sure the meeting room that you've booked is in the correct area of the building or the correct area of the office, that it's not in a confidential or restricted area. Make sure that they're not walking past desks that have confidential information on them or on the screens or any other trade secrets that you might not want people to see. This is pretty rare, but I've seen on occasion things written on whiteboards or things left on desks that I've certainly had to steer my external guests away from pretty quickly. And always, always keep an eye on external guests. Never leave them unattended. And this isn't a lack of trust thing, but I've seen things go walkabout before. If you're bringing people in and you don't know what they're going to do, well, don't be surprised if something goes walking. Again, it's rare, but I've seen things disappear from desks coincidentally around the time that external people have been around. It's very hard to prove it, and it's very rare. So always remember, if you're bringing external people in, they're your responsibility. It's your responsibility to make sure they're safe, comfortable, and secure.