Check and double-check the details are right. If you’re in the same building, nip along and check. Fifteen minutes spent now might save hours of wasted time and frustration later – for you and the participants. After all, you don’t want to end up on the roof!
Requesting items for inclusion
Sometimes the invitation may include a request for items to be discussed by the participants. Imagine this situation. You had an action point from the last meeting that you haven’t been able to complete. So you want to have further discussion in the next meeting. The best way to do this may be to put it on the agenda for the meeting.
It’s worth asking all participants if they want to include this or perhaps another item. You can either do this when you send out the invitation or else in a separate email, once the meeting date has been agreed.
Date: All addressees: Subject: Agenda items for meeting on 28th March
Dear all, Please let me have any agenda items for the meeting on 28th March by 5 p.m. on 25th March.
Thank you very much. Tom Hadfield
Types of meeting
Before we go on to the next piece of documentation, the agenda, let’s make a distinction between two types of meeting. The first is the regular meeting. This is a meeting of a project team or department which takes place at regular intervals, weekly or monthly. The aim of the meeting is primarily to update on progress and troubleshoot problems. This is the kind of meeting where the meeting leader may request items for inclusion, as above.
The second is a ‘one-off’ meeting to discuss a particular topic or issue. In this case, there has been no ‘last meeting’ and therefore it’s unlikely, though not impossible, that the meeting leader will request items for inclusion.
Agendas are the single organising principle of a business meeting. They define what needs to be discussed and in what order. They are therefore the starting point for any successful meeting, and the lack of one is the main starting point for an unsuccessful meeting. But they also have another function. They help you organise your thoughts. When you write an agenda, automatically you think about what you want to agree on. These are the aims and objectives of the meeting.
If you look around, you’ll see business people in informal meetings in coffee shops, cafés and restaurants. Even for informal meetings they’ll ask the question, ‘What do we need to discuss?’ And they will scribble the points to discuss on a napkin or piece of paper. It may not look like it, but that’s an agenda.
The way to focus a meeting is through the agenda. Agendas help you think more constructively and more logically about what you want to achieve. It’s not just about organising your thoughts. It’s also about deciding what order you want to present them in – the progression. Going into a meeting without a clear agenda is like going into a meeting without a focus.
Agendas – what to include
Agendas are often included with the invitation. They normally include the following information:
Details of meeting, date, time, location
Participants
This is a list of who is expected at the meeting, the participants. At the very least, write their names, but some agendas include job titles too.
Once again, your policy should be to look at a previous agenda and check how people are described. Use that as your guide. Expect at least the full first name and family name, e.g. Barry Tomalin.
In more formal meetings, titles may be attached, e.g. Mr Barry Tomalin, M.A. However, check gender. Is Hilary Baker a man or a woman? Check company policy. Mentioning gender titles may be politically incorrect.
In some cases, job titles may also be added, e.g. Alicia Jones, R&D Coordinator EMEA.
So here is your next problem, acronyms. What does an R&D Coordinator do? And what is EMEA? R&D is Research and Development, in other words, a researcher. EMEA defines the region of responsibility. It stands for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Part of your background research is to note the names (people you may never meet but you are expected to know who they are), their job titles and the acronyms that describe their areas of responsibility. Information may be found on the company intranet. Never be afraid to ask about this, especially during your first few months in the company. But don’t be surprised – they may not know either!
Apologies for absence
Some people don’t turn up for meetings and they don’t tell anyone beforehand. In Britain, in particular, this is not well viewed, and in France they call it absence sauvage: ‘savage absence’. If you can’t make a meeting, you should always email or phone in good time. If it’s a short notice cancellation or delay, make sure you phone.
If by any chance you miss a meeting and don’t inform the meeting leader, then you should apologise by phone or email as soon as possible afterwards.
On the agenda, absence is noted like this:
Apologies
Barry Tomalin
Or:
Apologies received Barry Tomalin
Or:
Apologies received from Barry Tomalin
If you’ve sent your apologies in advance, then you should be on the list to receive the minutes of the meeting. If for any reason you don’t receive them, then you should ask for them.
Minutes of last meeting
For a regular meeting, when you send out the invitation to the next meeting, you should usually attach the minutes of the previous meeting. That way everyone can check what has and hasn’t been done since the last meeting.
Agenda items
Each item on the agenda has a title, for example:
1. Project update (Claire) – (7 minutes), Paper 2.1
Check company practice in the presentation of items.
- Is an ‘item owner’ listed? In this case, Claire introduces the update, followed by discussion.
- Is there a suggested time? This proposes a theoretical duration for the presentation and discussion. It helps the meeting leader keep track of time, so he/she can shorten the discussion or cut another item lower