ENG101B: Freshman English Agenda, meetings, minutes

Objectives l You will learn effective meeting preparation l You will be able to write agendas l You will learn to prepare minutes effectively l You will learn to describe data and trends in English

MEETING PREPARATION l Continuous Cycle n Preparation n Conducting a meeting n Follow-up to meeting

INFORMATION GATHERING Collect responses from colleagues Review correspondence Review minutes and action items from previous meeting Contact staff manager Prepare agenda

WHY IS AN AGENDA IMPORTANT??  Prepares chairman  Prepares attendees  Creates an interest  Clearly defines objectives  Provides a valuable organizational tool

INFORMATION AGENDA INCLUDES:  Agenda heading: AGENDA  Regular items: Meeting date, time, location, etc.  Apologies for absence  Minutes of the last meeting  Matter arising from the last minutes  Old/New Business  Any other business (AOB)  Date of next meeting (See handouts p.1)

Language Focus when writing agendas l Use noun phrases. Good: Report on balance sheet – by Treasurer Bad: Treasurer reports on balance sheet l Be specific. Good: Telephone system/ Memos & notices / Computer network Bad: Corporate communication problem

Exercise: Rewrite the following for the agenda: 1. Is staff morale going down? 2. We received a complaint from Campbell Cleaning Services. 3. To discuss the renovation proposal submitted by the Estate Management Department. 4. How should we organize a party to celebrate the company’s 10 th anniversary?

DISTRIBUTION OF AGENDAS  Provide electronic copy to staff manager –manager will post to members only section of home page –ensure copies are available at the meeting

COVERAGE OF MEETING  IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND, FIND A REPLACEMENT  BRIEF YOUR REPLACEMENT ON THE AGENDA

AT THE MEETING l Is the room set properly l No. of seats l Seat arrangement: Yv0cX0 Yv0cX0 l Audio visual

Power Position at the meeting table The power position in a meeting being held at a rectangular table is always in the centre facing the door, where the person can see who is coming and going. On television clips, you'll notice it's where the president of the United States sits. The second most important position is to the person's right, the third to his/her left.

CONDUCTING A MEETING  START ON TIME!!  Delegate the task of taking minutes if you haven’t a subcommittee secretary  Review the agenda/obtain agreement on the meetings objectives and goals  Revise agenda if necessary  Secrets of effective meetings: reen&NR=1&v=uOLuPfq11YY reen&NR=1&v=uOLuPfq11YY

ROLE OF THE CHAIRMAN  Recognize attendees who wish to speak  Remain neutral  Summarize discussion and future action  Maintain order

Activity l Get into small groups. l Discuss FIVE things that we should avoid when holding a meeting. l Make a list and share with the class. l Bad practices: 0&feature=related 0&feature=related

WHY DO WE RUN OUT OF TIME??  Repetition  Wander from the agenda  Lengthy discussion of controversial issues

MEETING TECHNIQUES  Focus attention on the agenda  Set time limits  Identify different opinions  Establish task groups/chairmen as needed

CLOSING A MEETING  State conclusions reached  Summarize assignments  Give staff manager next meeting requirements

MINUTES  Minutes = “Small”  During the meeting, jot down quick, shorthand notes  After the meeting, re-write the notes as minutes  Formal historical record= Used as evidence in court of law

AFTER THE MEETING l Prepare minutes as soon as possible after the meeting –actions and discussions that took place are fresh in the writer’s mind –committee members may rely on receipt of minutes before they implement promised actions l Send electronic version of minutes to the staff manager

PREPARING MINUTES Like an agenda, minutes should carry out the following items: 1. Organization name 2. Introduction – nature, date, time and place of the meeting 3. End matter – signature, name, date, enclosure reference, initials In addition, minutes should have: 4. A list of the people present and absent, indicating the chairperson and the secretary 5. Minute headings 6. Minute paragraphs 7. A closing

Taking the minutes l 0J7DTYs&feature=related 0J7DTYs&feature=related

Strategy focus l Take an objective stand l Use reported speech l Use ‘the meeting’, ‘the Committee’, ‘the Team’, or ‘the Working Party’ to refer to the group of people at the meeting. l Avoid recording irrelevant talk, jokes, bias l Avoid your own judgement l Write your minute headings based on the agenda items

Exercise: Compare and comment on the following pairs and decide which one is more suitable for minutes. Set 1: A: The chairman announced joyously the opening of our new branch office. B: The chairman announced the opening of our new branch office. Set 2: A: The Security Manager was obviously angry with the Chairman and refused to accept the job. He claimed that he had insufficient human resources to deal with it. B: The Security Manager refused to accept the job on the grounds that human resources were insufficient.

Exercise: For each extracts of a meeting, rewrite it in reported speech to make it suitable for inclusion in minutes. 1. The Chairperson: Miss Lee, could you ring the moving company and get a quotation for us please? 2. The Chairlady: I’m wondering if we can use the area near Block F as an extension car park. 3. Mr Law: Why don’t we organize a contest for staff to design a logo for the Department? 4. The Chairperson: Right, we can meet here again at the same time on Monday, 27 th – is that okay with everyone? Good – that’s settled then.

Exercise 5. Mr Dickens: Don’t forget that the deadline for submitting articles for the newsletter is Friday. 6. Bruce: I’ll make arrangements for staff to visit the new multimedia facilities next week. 7. The Chairman: Have the progress report on my desk by 5pm tomorrow. 8. Mr Lun: I think we need to buy a new copier. 9. The Chairman: Let’s get started. 10. The Chairman: Well, it’s already 5pm. I think we’ll stop here.