The Art of Client Service

Chapter 16Write a Conference Report

I remember returning home from a client meeting that was in a place called Mahwah, New Jersey. I know, you can't make up stuff like this. In a moment of snarkiness, we would say second prize was two trips to Mahwah. We didn't mean it—well, we did mean it, a little—but you have to admit Mahwah is as remote as it sounds.

In any event, my colleagues and I were back at our agency around 6:00 p.m. It had been a long, productive, information-laden session; the client was new, and I thought it might be impressive if I did a conference report that evening and had it on their desks when they arrived at their offices the next morning. So dutiful young account person that I was, I toiled late into the evening, converting my notes into a meeting recap that was, in fact, ready for client consumption the following morning.

The client was indeed impressed, and made a point of saying so. There was just one, minor matter: I hadn't written a conference report; I had written a meeting transcript.

A mistake made in earnest, I captured all of the meeting discourse—yes, as much as my furious note-taking scribbles would allow—making what should have been a relatively succinct document into something that went on page after page after interminable page, burying what was important in a swamp of needless, who-cares detail.

What I should have done, instead, is capture these four things: (1) the decisions reached; (2) the items outstanding still in need of resolution; ...