Another Boring Meeting Human beings have probably been complaining about boring meetings ever since sitting around the fire in front of their cave. Today’s sales meetings are no exception. Derek Johnson’s last sales meeting turned out to be a model for inducing lassitude among his sales force. The meeting lasted for 90 minutes, and despite the assistance of a steaming vat of coffee, a couple of people in the front row were actually dozing by the time the meeting ended. On the way down the hall back to his office, Derek overheard comments such as, “Boy, that sure was a waste of time!” And “I hate meetings when we’re told to be enthusiastic while the meeting itself is dead.” Rather than endure more disrespect, Derek was tempted to cancel sales meetings altogether and just let everybody sink or swim on their own. Nevertheless, as a mere sales manager, Derek knew that his vice president would never tolerate his running a sales team without meetings. Besides, the office Supply Company for which Derek worked was taking delivery on Blackberry’s PlayBook, Research in motion’s answer to Apple’s iPad. Since Derek’s company didn’t carry the iPad because of licensing restrictions, he knew that PlayBook’s features and would promote it vigorously; Derek concluded that he needed to have yet another sales meeting. This time, however, he determined that things would be different. In the first place, he invited a regional representative from research in motion to help explain the PlayBook’s features. In fact, the RIM rep promised to bring a 30 minute video that would thoroughly present the PlayBook in the most favorable light. Derek had previewed the video online and knew that the music and visuals were terrific. No one would be sleeping through that! He also had a stack of promotional literature to hand out to everyone. This meeting would indeed be different! From this, what would you say that Derek is on the right track? What theoretical principles underlie Derek’s new approach to the PlayBook sales meeting? If you were attending the meeting, what more should Derek do to keep you from falling asleep? What could Derek do to make the meeting even more effective in generating enthusiasm and improving learning?