Walk into any meeting as the most prepared person there (5 minutes)
Hi there,
Week 1: meetings to action plans. Week 2: long documents to short ones. This week: never walk into a meeting underprepared again.
Trick of the week: 5-minute meeting prep that changes how people see you
You have a meeting in 30 minutes with someone you barely know. A client, a partner, a board candidate, a potential hire. You need context. Fast.
Here is what to do:
- Open Claude.ai (or ChatGPT, Gemini)
- Paste this prompt:
I have a meeting in 30 minutes with [Name], [Title] at [Company]. Research what you know about this person and their company. Give me: (1) three recent developments at their company I should reference, (2) two things this person has said publicly (interviews, conference talks, LinkedIn posts) that reveal their priorities, (3) one question I can ask that shows I did my homework. Keep it under 200 words.
- If you want to go deeper, add: "Also compare their company's last annual report with the previous year. What changed? What did they stop talking about?"
Why this works better than Google: Google gives you 50 tabs. AI gives you one briefing card. The difference is not speed. It is structure. You walk in knowing what matters to them, not what the internet thinks matters.
The real trick: Point (2) is where the magic happens. When you reference something someone actually said, they notice. It is the difference between "I looked at your website" and "I saw your comment at the Barcelona conference about supply chain visibility." One is homework. The other is preparation.
Works for: - Client meetings (especially first meetings) - Board presentations where you need to know your audience - Job interviews (both sides of the table) - Investor or partner conversations - Internal meetings with colleagues from other departments you rarely interact with
Cost: $0 (free accounts handle this. No documents to upload, just the prompt)
Time: 5 minutes. Read the briefing. Walk in prepared.
The executives who get remembered are not the ones with the best slides. They are the ones who listen better because they already know the context.
That's it for this week. Five minutes before your next meeting. Try it once.
If you don't want these emails, reply "stop" and I'll never write again.
Best, Irene irene@letaido.it