Better Meetings
Meetings, for good or bad, are part of our life. For a long time now people with the same interests have been meeting together for a specific common purpose - to solve problems, share and discuss ideas, make decisions and act together on matters of mutual concern.
Business meetings have a degree of formality and structure which varies according to the purpose, size or type of meeting.
For meetings to be successful it is usual to follow a set procedure, designed to move things from start to finish, to make sure everyone has a fair chance to express themselves. If you follow these steps, you are on your way to conducting effective and efficient meetings.
Remember
- Respect the rights of all members at the meeting.
- Respect the rights of the minority of the meeting to have a say and the right of the majority at the meeting to act.
When you protect the rights of others you are protecting your own rights
Plan
- What is the purpose of the meeting?
- Is it to inform, solve problems, make a plan of action, make a decision, review progress or to negotiate?
- Be clear about the objective of the meeting
Ask yourself:
- Why are we meeting?
- What do we want to achieve?
- What would happen if we didn't have this meeting?
Sometimes it is better not to meet when 1 or 2 people could solve the issue, or when a phone call would do or when information could be distributed another way.
Notify/inform
If you are the one reponsible for organising the meeting you need to:
- Inform others of what is to be discussed and why
- Arrange a venue
- Ensure that there are adequate resources available
- Ensure that you have the people and information resources you need
- Limit attendance to only those who need to be there
Agenda
The agenda provides directions and purpose for the meeting.
It is essential to address all the items of business in the order they need to be discussed.
Allocate a start and finish time for the meeting and for time to be spent on each item.
Each item should have a number, title and indication of why it is being discussed and what action is to happen.
List items in order of importance not urgency. A typical agenda contains:
- Opening remarks
- Apologies
- Confirmation of minutes of previous meeting
- Business arising from these minutes
- Correspondence received and business arising from the correspondence
- Report
- General business
- Time, date, venue for next meeting.
Remember to circulate the agenda to all relevant people in plenty of time before the meeting, and allow people to add items to the agenda.
Structure/control
The chairperson is usually responsible for controlling the meeting.
Start and end on time.
Discuss all items in stages. Don't jump on ahead or go back once an issue is dealt with.
Present the evidence, then interpret the facts, then decide on a plan of action.
Summarise and record
The secretary is usually responsible for recording the meeting. If there is no secretary you need to nominate a person who is responsible for recording the decision reached and any action required out of the business discussed.
Minutes are an agreed upon record of the business of the meeting.
Good minutes
- Identify the name of the committee
- Identify the kind of meeting
- List the place, date and time
- Record each item discussed in the order listed on the agenda
- Define the issues and why they were discussed
- Summarise the essential points
- Record accurately the decisions and action outcomes of the meeting.
Minutes should be written up and distributed as soon as possible after the meeting
Roles and responsibility
Chairperson
Sometimes there is a formally appointed leader, sometimes different members take a turn chairing the meeting.
The leader of the meeting is responsible for:
- The administration of the meeting
- Preparing and circulating the agenda
- Assembling the necessary information and resources
- Preparing the minutes of the previous meeting
- Dealing with correspondence
- Taking notes at the meeting to enable clear and accurate minutes to be written up.
Decision making and motions
Decisions can be reached in a number of different ways at meetings
- General agreement
- Voice vote
- Show of hands
- Standing vote
- Ballot
The type of meeting will usually determine how a decision is made. A motion is a proposal for action and summarises and formalises the group's decision.
Motion procedures can be quite complex. Refer to the Further Reading list at the end of this learning tip for more detailed information. What follows is just to give you a general idea of what motions involve.
- At least 2 people must be in favour of a motion, the proposer and the seconder.
- The proposer needs to present the motion.
- Someone must second it.
- Discussion must follow, both for and against the motion
- A vote is taken.
- The result is announced.
- An amendment may be made, in which case the vote must be taken on the amendment first before the original motion can be voted on.
- If the motion is successful it becomes a resolution.
For more information
- Check the shelves: How to chair and run meetings 658.456 VAL
- Search the LLC Catalogue with the key term 'meetings'
- Explore the web
- Ask a Librarian!
The LLC recommends these web links:
- Running meetings
Businessballs.com guide to planning and running effective meetings. Includes basic rules; priorities, outcomes, sequence, timings, agenda, date, time, venue (POSTAD TV); taking and producing the meeting notes/minutes. - How to plan and run a meetingBasic step by step guide to planning and running a meeting from the American Library Association.
