1. BUSINESS MEETINGS Because you can expect to attend many workplace meetings, learn to make them efficient, satisfying and productive.

2. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 2 Prposes f Meetings Purposes of Meetings Meetings are an essential tool of management and supervision. Purposes:  to keep members informed  to provide a forum for soliciting input, solving problems and making decisions  to promote unity and cohesiveness among members through social interaction

3. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 3 Planning the Meeting “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” (Benjamin Franklin) Before the meeting: identify your purpose & determine whether a meeting is necessary organize an agenda decide who should attend determine logistics (location, materials)

4. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 4 Planning the Meeting Identifying purpose No meeting should be called unless the topic is important can’t wait requires an exchange of ideas The more focused/specific your purpose, the easier it will be to accomplish it! Compare:  to discuss how to make our marketing reps more effective  to decide whether to purchase cell phones for our marketing reps

5. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 5 Planning the Meeting Planning the Meeting Organizing agenda Consider what topics the meeting will cover and in what order! An agenda:  shows what background info you need  helps you run the meeting. Elements:  date & place; start time & end time  brief description of each topic, in order of priority + persons responsible  proposed allotment of time for each topic  any pre-meeting preparation expected of participants

6. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 6 Planning the Meeting Planning the Meeting Organizing agenda (cont’d) Tips: Limit the # of agenda items Narrow the focus of topics Put items that will be completed quickly near the beginning Save emotional topics to the end Distribute agenda at least two days in advance

7. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 7 Planning the Meeting Deciding who should attend Everyone at the meeting should have a specific reason for attending! ??? to consider: How will participants relate to your purpose? Who will make the decision? Who can provide needed background info? Who will implement the decision? Who will benefit from the decision?

8. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 8 Planning the Meeting Planning the Meeting Determining logistics Make intelligent choices about:  timing & location  room/seating arrangements  types of audiovisual equipment  copies of documents  refreshments.

9. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 9 Conducting the Meeting  Getting started  Moving along  Dealing with conflict  Handling dysfunctional group members  Concluding and following up

10. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 10 Conducting the Meeting Getting started ▶ Begin on time. ▶ Have all participants introduce themselves if necessary. ▶ Make a 3-5 min. intro including ► goal & length of meeting ► background of topics or problems ► possible solutions & constraints ► overview of agenda ► ground rules to be followed.

11. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 11 Conducting the Meeting Moving along ☞ Make sure each member gets some air time while no one steals the show. ☞ Encourage quieter participants to speak. ☞ When consensus is reached, summarize group’s position and check whether everyone agrees. ☞ Adhere to agenda and time schedule: don’t let discussion get bogged down in details prevent digressions from topic generate a list of divergent issues to discuss later.

12. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 12 Conducting the Meeting Dealing with conflict In meetings, conflict can develop when people feel unheard or misunderstood. Encourage each to make a complete case Encourage group to give their full attention Summarize what was said Invite group to offer comments Reach an agreement.

13. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 13 Conducting the Meeting The role of workplace conflicts People who never experience conflict on the job are either living in a dream world, or in solitary confinement. (Diana Booher) If managed properly, conflict can ☺ improve decision making ☺ clarify values ☺ increase group cohesiveness ☺ stimulate creativity ☺ decrease tensions ☺ reduce dissatisfaction.

14. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 14 Conducting the Meeting Handling dysfunctional members Dysfunctional behaviour: ▼ blocking or monopolizing discussion ▼ attacking speakers ▼ joking excessively ▼ not paying attention ▼ withdrawing Techniques: ☞ Lay down rules in opening statement ☞ Seat potential dysf. members strategically ☞ Avoid direct eye contact ☞ Assign dysf members specific tasks ☞ Ask members to speak in a specific order ☞ Interrupt monopolizers ☞ Encourage nontakers.

15. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 15 Conducting the Meeting Conducting the Meeting Concluding Adjourn meeting when ooriginal objectives have been accomplished ogroup has reached an impasse oending time occurs. A leader should summarize what has been decided establish deadlines for action items explain each member’s responsibilities set a time for next meeting thank participants for attending.

16. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 16 Following Up the Meeting Formal meetings require formal minutes - an official record of the proceedings. Guidelines for minutes writing: ◈ Report events in the order in which they occurred. ◈ Provide headings (as in agenda) to aid readability. ◈ Provide only enough detail to give an indication of what took place. ◈ Provide exact wording of the motions made and indicate action taken. ◈ Announce date & time of next meeting. Minutes should be brief, self-contained and decisive.

17. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 17 CONCLUSIONS To use meetings as an effective managerial tool you need to know  when to call them  how to run them  how to follow up Like other decisions about communication, your choices will be guided by what you hope to accomplish!

18. Emilia Placintar - Business Meetings 18 Biblography Bovée, C. L. and J. T. Thill., Business Communication Today, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, 1992 (pp. 530-557). Guffey M. E. Essentials of Business Communication. Thomson/South-Western, 2007 (pp. 322-328). Ober, S. Fundamentals of Contemporary Business Communication. Boston/NY:2007 (pp. 60-71).