Business meeting preparation should help you ask better questions and understand the decision in front of you. Research the participants’ relevant work, verify the facts you plan to use, and identify what remains uncertain. A large folder of background material is useful only if it improves the conversation.
In Episode 15, Luis “Wicho” Hernandez recalls methodical coaching preparation and describes researching opponents for his broadcasting work. His examples come from the original 2023 interview. The practical tool below is THCC’s editorial application of that discussion; it is not a checklist the guest delivered word for word.
Decide what the meeting needs to accomplish
Write the practical purpose in one sentence. Are you learning about a customer’s situation, evaluating a collaboration, or resolving an operating question? Distinguish the outcome you hope for from a commitment the other person has already made.
Use that purpose to limit research. A customer discussion may require understanding the current service and recent public company information. It rarely needs a collection of unrelated personal details. Stay with information relevant to the work.
Prepare a one-page brief
- Purpose: The decision or learning the meeting should support.
- Known facts: Relevant information, its source, and whether it is current.
- Open questions: What you need the participant to explain.
- Potential constraints: Dependencies or limits to confirm, rather than assume.
- Next step: The kind of action that could follow a useful conversation.
Mark old information clearly. A job title, product capability, or company priority may have changed. When a fact matters to your question, verify it or introduce it as something you want to confirm.
Prepare to listen as well as present
Turn research into open questions. “I saw your team introduced this service; how has that changed the work?” leaves room for an explanation. A long statement demonstrating everything you found can make it harder to learn what matters now.
For a fictional partnership meeting, list the customer need you think both teams serve, then ask each participant to correct that assumption. The objective is shared understanding before a proposal, not a performance of certainty.
Review the notes after the conversation
Separate confirmed facts, interpretations, and promised actions. Record who owns the next step and which question remains unanswered. Update the brief while the distinction between what you knew beforehand and what you learned is still clear.
How much preparation is enough?
Enough to explain the meeting’s purpose, ask informed questions, and avoid preventable factual mistakes. Add depth when the decision requires it. More research is not automatically better if it displaces the work of listening during the meeting.
Watch the source conversation
Watch Episode 15 for the complete interview and its original context.
Continue with leadership listening skills, or explore more entrepreneurship conversations and guides.
