‘Whoever controls the minutes, controls the meeting!’ — UK finance manager
Five ways to succeed
Always have an agenda.
Communicate the aim and objectives.
Organise the discussion documents for the meeting.
Know how to present your own ideas.
Take and present minutes to suit the meeting.
Five ways to fail
Assume the meeting can run by itself.
Waste time by not organising/attaching discussion papers.
Fail to ask someone to take the minutes.
Write down what everyone says and then try to reproduce it.
Forget to check minutes before circulation.
Good meetings depend on planning and successful planning depends partly on good documentation.
Four key documents will contribute to a successful meeting. They are:
The invitation
The agenda
Supporting papers and discussion documents
The minutes
The invitation makes sure you get the right people in the right place on the right day at the right time.
The agenda is your roadmap to success. It is the path to meeting the goals and objectives of your meeting. It ensures you clarify your meeting objectives and it identifies the process you need to go through to achieve them with the relevant stakeholders.
The supporting papers and discussion documents provide the necessary background to any discussion, but need to be presented in an unambiguous and accessible way.
The minutes are not just a record of the meeting. They are an action plan going forward.
Clear, relevant and action-oriented action points provide the platform for the next steps.
There should be a clear progression from the agenda to the minutes. The order of the minutes should reflect the order of the agenda and should clearly relate to the subject headings and issues raised in each item. If it doesn’t, you risk confusion.
The invitation
When you prepare an invitation, you tell attendees about the meeting: where they need to go, what date and what time.
Sounding pro: Meeting invitations
Here’s an example of an invitation:
To:
From:
Re: Team meeting
Dear Colleagues,
We are holding two meetings in May to discuss reorganisation of the department. It is extremely important that everyone in the team attends. We are proposing two dates: May 17th or May 24th at 1 p.m. in the canteen. Please let me know by May 6th which date or dates you are available for.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Sara Leboeuf
HR Manager
Why is this invitation successful?
It’s clear – it states the type of meeting.
It explains – it doesn’t take for granted that the participants know.
It specifies attendance – it says who should come.
It offers alternative time slots.
It offers a choice of dates.
It’s polite and it makes clear requests with a clear deadline.
It shows authority – the sender states her job title at the end.
The invitation also creates a record. Do people need a record? If you’ve got back-to-back meetings or very few meetings, yes, you do. Knowing where you have to be and when is all important.
Date
Write it how you like. Some people prefer May 6th 2013. Some like 6th May 2013. Many people, even in the UK, use the US form 6 May 2013 or May 6 2013.
You may see this: 6/7/13 (the 6th of July 2013), but be careful, as in America and other parts of the world, the month comes first, like this: 7/6/13 (the 6th of July 2013) not, as it looks to the British (the 7th of June 2013).
If in doubt, copy the format from a previous meeting.
Time
Just to be clear, many companies now use the 24-hour clock and write the time as part of a 24-hour period. So 09:05 is five minutes past nine a.m. and 12:05 is five minutes past 12 o’clock midday. Alternatively, you can use a.m./p.m.
It’s important to note that people from different cultures have different attitudes to time. Some are much more tolerant of delays and lateness than others. The UK, by and large, is an ‘on time’ culture. It’s much better to arrive five minutes early for a meeting than five minutes late. Also, if you’re going to be late you should ring and advise as early as possible.
Location
This is straightforward: building, address (if needed) and room number, e.g.
Room 101 Edinburgh Building 3 East Side Nottingham
Be careful you get numbers and addresses right. If the meeting is in your office building, check the room booked corresponds to the room