Dress code for meetings

A common reason why meetings go wrong is that we have different perceptions of what is expected of us as participants. If some people have prepared thoroughly while others believe that simply attending is enough, there is obviously going to be a clash. When we know how formal the meeting is supposed to be, it becomes easier to both prepare and participate. The concept of formality level serves the same function as a dress code, and clarifying this for meeting participants before the meeting can be very beneficial. It is particularly easy to misunderstand the degree of formality when the participants in the meeting have different cultural backgrounds.

In such contexts, it is particularly important to clearly communicate the degree of formality to everyone who will be participating. Read more about the Chadberg scale, which you can use to clarify how formal a meeting is, in our recently published Meeting Cookbook by Erik Mattsson and Pia Moberg. There you can also read about how to think about meeting rules.

Other news

The art of pitching

What’s the difference between a great idea and a funded startup? A compelling pitch. When you have just minutes to convince investors to believe in your vision, every word counts.

Can you learn presentation skills through e-learning?

To want to learn, you need motivation. And being alone in front of a computer is not always the best motivator. That’s why we’ve built our hybrid presentation skills course…

Stories at Karolinska Institutet

Storytelling is a powerful technique. We’re sometimes told that stories work best in soft contexts, but nothing could be further from the truth. Storytelling is a particularly good technique when…