I find that finding the correct time slot for the meeting can be a challenge. When you have employees where some work a morning shift and others work evening shift.I will usually send out a meeting request via e-mail for a specified date and time to whom I want to attend the meeting. I will monitor thier responses to the request and get a head count on who can attend and who may not. I will either then suggest a second possible time slot if need be or an additional date for a make-up meeting for those that could not attend.
I find that the most difficult task is setting the agenda and sticking with it. People tend to come in with their own agenda and then try to hijack the meeting. I use a written agenda and a timekeeper in order to stay on track.
Patrick,
An agenda should reflect the expectations of the meeting. Sideline off the subject discussions keep you from achieving the expectations. The entire members of the meeting should be aware of the purpose of the meeting and the outcomes expected. if the group has this clear cost information they know when you bring them back to the subject it helps to achieve the purpose of the meeting.
Dr. Gary Carlson
As the leader of the meeting, you have goals or topics that you want to accomplish within a certain time frame and you may not be aware of underlying issues concerning a topic that needs more time to be discussed than you have allotted for. It all goes back to the importance of the meeting: the agenda or the goals or topics of the meeting. Maybe a follow up meeting is required or using another form of communication may suffice for the topic less covered.
Lawrence,
You are correct. You know how to be efficient with your time
Dr. Gary Carlson
I agree with you, I think the hardest thing is the time allotted, especially when you are looking for the participant to give their opinion. It’s hard to forecast how much time you will really need for a subject.
Jose,
You always do better when you prioritize and set the most neccesary items first. Finish them first.
Dr. Gary Carlson
I think the hardest part is to bring everyone together to discuss common problems, that impact some more than others. Some not at all. Finding a common ground to the issues that everyone can relate to is how I have brought everyone to participate.
eric,
In any business we try to hire people with special talents for there responsibility. It is also important to stress that we are a team. Our services to the outcome expected is dependent on all team members. Genuine interest in each colleagues responsibility. This is the ownership of the big picture.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Most all meeting I either attend or am the leader time is usually limited to 45 minutes or less. Sometimes the number of adgenda items make it impossible to cover all issues. I try to give a least a summary of the issues that would take to long to discuss and encourage e-mail communications with the group to come up with a concensus without having to call more meetings. Some issues can be resolved this way, others have to wait until the next meeting.
Don,
You are using some best practice techniques. Good for you! Good meetings don't just happen. Appropriate meetings for the attendees happen when everyone understands the expectations and time constraints.
Dr. Gary Carlson
We dont have much trouble setting up meetings for our staff. We meet each week on a specific day, for a half hour. The meetings are well planned and we are expected to be there. We sometimes joke, that we are having a meeting to plan the next meeting. The truth is we would be in the dark without these meetings and they usually are planned well.
Many times we brainstorm ideas, we get a chance to research these situations and bring it to a later conclusion
Marvin
Marvin,
It sounds like you are lucky to have such a well organize meeting. Your comments are positive and it is good to have a meeting where everyone is having fun.
Dr. Gary Carlson
When preparing for and meeting with your staff or your colleagues one of the most difficult items is establishing a reasonable agenda which will give everyone an opportunity to contribute to the issues on a timely basis. Now that may all sound well and good but if you distribute the agenda in that they announce then you will have individuals from the group wanting to add items to the agenda and in some cases I have seen items added to the agenda prior to the start of the meeting. These types of meetings are generally conducted with department has where everyone wants to get there to send Santa or be acknowledged by promoting some recent achievement that they feel would be noteworthy. This naturally creates a huge problem for the facilitator and additionally it throws the agenda, time frames and outcomes before the meeting entirely out the window. Yet many educational institutions still run on this type of system.
It is possible to recommend that newly added items to the agenda would be better placed at the next meeting and given first priority, but the risk on a sliding someone is relatively high and you may find that they will be nonproductive during your current meeting and you must employ many different techniques to get them to speak out on other relative issues. I am a very strong proponent of holding smaller meeting numbers and covering the material at an adequate time but doing it numerous times throughout a given week or month. That way everyone is informed and can contribute. Of course it is essential that the outcome of these meetings sessions is circulated widely through the entire group.
Is there truly a way to cut off someone who is in conversation regarding an approved topic on the agenda? Different techniques may be tried but the individual will probably feel slighted and shortchanged in that they never really got to their primary point. So this is where the original meaning rules come into play and that it is explained that the first sentence of each individual's contribution contains of the purpose statement as well as the facts regarding the particular issue they are going to present. Once this is put into place then the general material is presented and everything after that would be ancillary and a cut off could be developed and it does add an error of professionalism to these meetings.
It is definitely a great idea when a particular new discovery is developed within a meeting of that the discussion on this new topic is halted and a team to follow up further investigation and report back at the next scheduled meeting of the est. Otherwise time will be essentially wasted with a lot of hypothetical thought, and accurate contributions, and unfounded ideas from individuals that have little or no background in the topic to be discussed. It might not be a bad idea to suggest to people in the group that they all research the topical information and present their findings to the focus group prior to the presentation at the next meeting. This would be most effective
There is no real gauge for the acceptance in popularity for certain agenda items and less the agenda is distributed in advance of the meeting and then gauged on the feedback of the particular area as one can make assumptions as to the level of interest as well as the level of participation that will occur during the meeting. This is extremely handy as you can develop the timing technique as well as allow time for individuals to present their thoughts on the particular agenda items that are in question. You may also be able to based on the additional advance participation discover that you have scheduled too many items on the agenda for discussion at that particular meeting and maybe they would be best placed at another meeting at a later date. Meeting leaders often times we until the meaning is in progress to start making decisions as to how best control the length of time, contributions and decor on of the meetings; while this particular practice could be worked out well in advance. I know from personal experience that when I have attended a meeting and there were not enough chairs, I knew that we were going to be in for very long drawn out possibly dry situation and that the meeting planner had not really done their homework in having the room ready.
Meeting the years are of course human beings and have the tendency to want to maintain a particular level of popularity with all individuals attending the meeting and give them their adequate time to present their thoughts. This is a natural tendency as individuals in my opinion naturally liked to be liked. A good meeting should be informative, should cover important information which may require a group decision, and should have an effective outcome. Many meetings are just put into place and scheduled monthly and because there are monthly meetings. And so it becomes a routine that often times is extremely time-consuming takes faculty away from their main objective and even with the scribe or notetaker is often a huge mystery as to what happens with the minutes from the previous meeting aside from having them read at the new meeting and everyone approach and then the minutes find themselves dying a natural death. So at the end of the academic year if it had to be summed up what was accomplished at this these meetings naturally the minutes would be presented but there would be no direct analysis of the outcome or of the developments that occurred as a byproduct of these meetings.
In today's society, and the advance of technology and there really is not a totally valid reason why people have to travel great distances to attend a meeting naturally these individuals do need to know where another prior to a webinar or something of that nature but we are seeing at this time that successful webinars are being accomplished by concentrating on subjects which or of interest to all types and levels of the academic society. Taken a step further the traditional day long tedious in services that are required at most institutions are being replaced by requiring that specific courses such as Max Knowledge are are being completed throughout the given year and they have a very high success rate as the participants learn new skills from experts in the field. Naturally course though departmental meetings are a necessity to keep the organization on track and these should be scheduled in my opinion monthly but only allowed to run 45 minutes therefore people can plan their schedules accordingly and also learn of any changes developments and things of that nature occurring within the academic institutions on a relatively timely basis. So we do live in a time of change as we do utilize technology to our advantages and in conducting successful meetings as well as huge conferences and it is with that in mind I that any course material that is prepared for meeting management address these issues and extreme detail and not just glance over some of the specifics.
