Effective Meetings Tony Del Busso December 14 th, 2006

Why Have Meetings? Provide Periodic Status on Projects Resolve an Issue Bring a Group to Consensus Communicate Information to Participant(s)

Three Phases of Meetings Planning of the Meeting Conducting the Meeting Followup After the Meeting

Planning the Meeting Make sure the meeting is needed Ensure the specific goal(s) of the meeting Ensure the appropriate participation for the meeting If possible, schedule the meeting on online scheduling (ie. Lotus Notes) not just requests for the meeting Provide room and conference number information Try to keep the meeting to 1 hour (1.5 at a maximum) Provide an Agenda / Meeting Structure / Previous Tasks / To Do Lists –Consistent with Meeting Goals –Approximate time to spend on each section Familiarize yourself with the meeting content prior to the meeting Resolve / Followup on as many issues prior to the meeting as possible to eliminate additional meeting discussion.

Recurring Meetings Try to ensure consistency in: –Time and Day of the meeting –Conference Number Information –Room Information –Schedule of Meeting Minutes Distribution –Format of the Meeting (with modification for addressing particular issues) Try to have a backup / Co-chair if possible If a meeting is cancelled, describe reason to ensure participants don’t confuse the cancellation as a permanent cancellation

Conducting the Meeting Start and End on-time –15-20 minutes before the end of the meeting, announce time left Provide a quick summary of the agenda Stick to the Agenda, but allow conversations to vet out any additional issues, but use judgement in how far from the issue to stray. Reviewing issues –New: Assign a responsible person to spearhead the task, a due date and what constitutes completion of the item –Existing: Ensure the meeting minutes reflect past meeting’s action item, the person responsible and (if possible) updated status of the item from last meeting. Keep a list of what happened on this issue from meeting to meeting. Resolved Isssues –Keep resolved issues on the minutes for 1 meeting in the future to ensure closure of the issue and communications of the closure.

After / Between Meetings Provide Meeting Minutes as close to after the meeting as possible. Provide a copy of the meeting minutes / agenda with a reminder for the next meeting (morning of, if possible) Followup on issues to get updated status before the meeting if possible Add any additional items to the agenda that have arisen from the prior week. Ensure task responsible parties will attend any followup meetings. Conduct meeting de-briefings to determine if anything can be changed to make the meeting more effective.

Effective Meetings Questions / Comments?