Meeting

In a meeting, two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal setting.

One dictionary defines a meeting as an act or process of coming together as an assembly for a common purpose. A meeting is a gathering of two or more people that has been convened for the purpose of achieving a common goal through verbal interaction, such as sharing information or reaching agreement. Meetings may occur face to face or virtually, as mediated by communications technology, such as a telephone conference call, a skyped conference call or a videoconference. Companies use business meetings to review company information or establish new operating principles. Most meetings are directed by management, and time is spent helping employees understand the company financial health or operations.

Types of meetings
Common types of meeting include:

Ad-hoc meeting, a meeting called for a special purpose Board meeting, a meeting of the Board of directors of an organization Investigative Meeting, generally when conducting a pre-interview, exit interview or a meeting among the investigator and representative Kickoff meeting, the first meeting with the project team and the client of the project to discuss the role of each team member Management meeting, a meeting among managers Off-site meeting, also called "offsite retreat" and known as an Awayday meeting in the UK One-on-one meeting, between two individuals Pre-Bid Meeting, a meeting of various competitors and or contractors to visually inspect a jobsite for a future project. The meeting is normally hosted by the future customer or engineer who wrote the project specification to ensure all bidders are aware of the details and services expected of them. Attendance at the Pre-Bid Meeting may be mandatory. Failure to attend usually results in a rejected bid Staff meeting, typically a meeting between a manager and those that report to the manager Team meeting, a meeting among colleagues working on various aspects of a team project Work Meeting, which produces a product or intangible result such as a decision

Meeting frequency options

Since a meeting can be held once or often, the meeting organizer has to determine the repetition and frequency of occurrence of the meeting. Options generally include the following:

A one-time meeting is the most common meeting type and covers events that are self-contained. While they may repeat often, the individual meeting is the entirety of the event. This can include a 2006 conference. The 2007 version of the conference is a stand-alone meeting event. A recurring meeting is a meeting that recurs periodically, such as an every Monday staff meeting from 9:00AM to 9:30 AM. The meeting organizer wants the participants to be at the meeting on a constant and repetitive basis. A recurring meeting can be ongoing, such as a weekly team meeting, or have an end date, such as a 5 week training meeting, held every Friday afternoon. A series meeting is like a recurring meeting, but the details differ from meeting to meeting. One example of a series meeting is a monthly "lunch and learn" event at a company, church, club or organization. The placeholder is the same, but the agenda and topics to be covered vary. This is more of a recurring meeting with the details to be determined.

Advantages of Meetings
A face-to-face discussion of organizational topics and issues can be conducted in various methods. In this modern day and age, individuals conveniently communicate through emailing and conference calls which limit the ability of people to express ideas only through the power of words. However, traditional meetings allow individuals to facilitate discussion and interaction in a face-to-face manner, allowing the participants to express their opinions freely with the help of nonverbal communication. Body language and physical gestures, which are not possible through emailing and phone calls, play vital roles in meetings. Most of us find it easy expressing our ideas along with these gestures. This is one of the many advantages of having a meeting. Let us find out what other benefits holding meetings can offer to the individuals. Meetings Build Good Working Relationship A meeting is a gathering of individuals with diverse opinions which are ready to be shared and discussed. Meeting participants may or may not have similar interests and personalities. But individuals are bonded together in a meeting. Notice that when you attend meetings in your office regularly, you somehow create a cordial affiliation with your colleagues and even strengthen the bond in the long run. This is because you see each other often during meetings despite the busy and hectic schedules at work that hinder employees to bond with each other during office hours. Comparing face-to-face meetings with phone calls and emailing, the latter forms of communicating do not really contribute much in strengthening the bond among colleagues. During meetings, individuals can demonstrate manifestations of connection such as a handshake and facial expressions. In meeting discussions, you see other people smile at you or participants laugh with each other. These can be good initial steps to establish rapport with each other. Since meetings allow a sharing of ideas and experiences, individuals eventually realize that they will find some things common to all of them. This paves way for a more comfortable atmosphere within the group which, in turn, makes it easier for the attendees to freely express themselves without worries of getting criticized and unheard. And when people are comfortable with each, it also becomes easy to crack humor. A good humor during meetings can work as an ice breaker from a serious atmosphere and it also keeps the cordial relationship among participants. Meetings Boost Individual Morale Attending meetings is a good chance for a person to practice good and open communication with others. Some individuals have brilliant ideas but find it hard to easily express themselves verbally for fear of not getting appreciated and recognized. If the meeting facilitator is effective in making everyone participate, even the most timid attendee will learn to open up and share. Make it a point to be heard and notice that your confidence level will start to build up. Just remember though that not everyones ideas are generally accepted by the group. You may experience being criticized and argued upon. Just prepare yourself for this circumstance and learn how to defend yourself professionally. Being able to interact with different personalities makes one a better speaker and more confident person. In fact, if you communicate your brilliant ideas, you become exposed to the group and soon your abilities will be discovered and complimented. Meetings Enhance Team Building

When you work in an office where people are so busy they barely find time to get together to catch up with each other, holding meetings can be considered a team building or socialization activity. Despite its serious atmosphere in nature, meetings can be turned into a fun gathering among individuals. One way of doing this is to find a venue that invites a good break from the office environment such as a fancy restaurant. Other organizations even incorporate meetings with team building activities. So, instead of conducting meetings during weekdays and in office hours, sessions are scheduled during weekends through a team outing. This way, individuals find time for fun and leisure along with the serious matters at work.
However, this approach depends on the nature of the organization and the type of meeting. Managers may find it uncomfortable to discuss important matters while having fun. So, a conference room is a more ideal venue. But there are still ways to build the team in meetings.

Disadvantages of Meetings
Although organizing meetings at work is essential in attaining a specific purpose and achieving goals, there are also disadvantages and drawbacks in meetings. A meeting would turn out to be ineffective if the organizer failed to properly facilitate the session and if the meeting agenda is not observed. Basically, these are the two major outcomes of an unsuccessful meeting. There are many factors and other adverse effects that may occur in a poorly facilitated meeting. Because of the lack of supervision, conflicts are bound to happen, decisions become hard to attain, and participants may even lose track of the key issues. Meetings are not necessarily one-time, unless the issue is trivial and agenda items do not require a followthrough. In common instances, meetings are regular and habitual in an organization. You cannot expect a meeting to be effective all the time, although most of the time it generates positive results for the group. Where there are advantages, expect to find disadvantages in a meeting as well. Common Problems with Meetings What common problems have you encountered so far in your meeting attendance? You will find a few of those issues in the list that are generated in this article. In a meeting, there is a possibility that participants go off in different directions at the same time and this situation is called multi-headed animal syndrome. Confusion between the meeting process and the content also happens. Participants are uncertain whether the focus is on how to discuss the agenda items or what key points to discuss. Some members experience traffic problem wherein they encounter difficulty in getting into the conversation and having a chance to participate. There is possibility of information overload in a meeting especially if there are multiple agenda items discussed so the members may not recall everything that has been talked about. Another problem is unnecessary repetition of old ideas from previous meetings which makes meetings pointless. Some meeting participants resort to problem avoidance in a meeting where the common notion is that everything is fine and no problems or issues should be discussed. On the other hand, when participants think that there is nothing that can be done for a difficult issue, there is no reason to try resolving it. This concept is called general negativity. Since a meeting is facilitated by a meeting leader, there are possibilities of power tripping or manipulation by the leader especially if personal objectives are involved. An ineffective facilitator may leave the

participants with unclear roles and responsibilities. Lastly, a common problem in meetings is personality control where people with negative behaviors and attitudes are quite hard to correct. Personality Control The nice thing about a face-to-face meeting is that every member sees the person they are interacting with. However, the challenge is meeting problematic people. Not everyone is participative in meetings, although this is ideally what we want to happen. People with problematic personalities may contribute to an ineffective meeting. The latecomers may cause the delay of a meeting. Early leavers can also distract the meeting. During the discussion, you encounter gossipers, attackers, know-it-all, and constant interrupters. The facilitator may have a teachers pet from among the members and this person usually gets the chance to speak more than the others do. You get to interact with broken records, those who repeat things over and over. There are backseat drivers who just cannot stand up for themselves and express their own ideas. More often than not, it is the responsibility of the meeting in-charge to keep all these problem personalities in control. But poor facilitation may cause a meeting to be unsuccessful and worthless. Conflicts May Occur Another disadvantage in a meeting is the possible existence of conflicts and here we are talking about unnecessary conflicts. Disagreements are expected in an interaction but when arguments get out of hand, the meeting will end up in a conflict. The meeting organizers will have to put the session off until next time when everyone has gotten over the disputes. This causes a delay in the resolution and decision making process. The facilitator must be an effective leader who can manage arising conflicts in a meeting. Unless no one takes the lead, conflicts will definitely grow worse and become unstoppable.

Tips for the Meeting

Business meetings range from gatherings of small groups of people to large conferences with hundreds, or even thousands, in attendance. It is those mega meetings that many people find stressful. Here are pointers to help you make the most of business meetings and relieve some of the stress you may feel when you find you have to attend one. Before You Go to a Business Meeting Meet Other Attendees in Advance: Get to know as many people as possible before you attend the conference. Look Your Best: When you look good, your confidence goes up. Make sure your hair and nails are well groomed. Dress Appropriately: Find out what type of attire is needed. Bring Clothes that Travel Well or bring an iron. You don't want your clothes to look rumpled. Pack Comfortable Shoes: You may be on your feet for long periods of time. At the Business Meeting Introduce Yourself to Others: Making the first move may make you feel less vulnerable. Smile: Smiling (only when appropriate, of course) helps you look approachable. Psych Yourself Up: Remember the qualities others like about you. Get People to Talk About Themselves: Everyone likes to do this and it will take the focus off you. Beware of Alcohol: You don't want to become too uninhibited.

When the Business Meeting is Over Take Home Something Valuable: This could be an idea you may be able to implement or a new person to add to your network. Keep in Touch: Maintaining contact with those you met at the conference will make the next conference easier.

Meeting Agenda
Agenda One needs to be very clear with the points that are expected to be discussed in the meeting. The term used is agenda. The agenda is extremely useful, when it comes to staying on track and making sure that the meeting does not stray too far from relevance itself. The importance of having an agenda is that, the productivity of the meeting does not slip.

How can meetings run smoothly and end successfully? Aside from having an effective facilitator and active participants, effective meeting agenda is also a key factor. A meeting agenda is a structured outline that highlights the flow of the entire meeting process. It is a meeting framework that keeps the participants in control and focused on the subject matter or topic at hand instead of getting off the track. In other words, it provides a meaningful purpose and direction to any type of meeting. A meeting agenda has to be creative and effective in order to make the meeting a productive one. The facilitator or meeting organizer must prepare a well-constructed agenda by knowing its components and the steps in writing an effective agenda. Components of a Meeting Agenda When sending out a meeting request or invitation, an organizer must not fail to also provide the intended participants with the meeting agenda. The purpose of this is to give them ample time to prepare for the meeting and know the topics or subject matter for discussion. Through this, they can do some research or outline their ideas based on what is written on the agenda. A meeting agenda should consist of the name of the attendees, meeting date, start time as well as the end time, and the meeting location or venue. More importantly, it should indicate the title of the meeting, the topic headings for discussion, and the meeting objectives. The meeting title should be something that will condition the mindset of the members for the meeting. The meeting objectives may just be brief but the topics should be descriptive. In each topic, you can indicate the expected output and set the time expectation for each. Also, if there is an assigned discussion leader for each topic, it can also be noted in the agenda. Steps in Making an Effective Meeting Agenda The meeting agenda has to be effective; otherwise, it will mess up the course of the meeting. In order to produce an organized and successful meeting, how do you create a well-written agenda? It must be prepared in advance with careful consideration of the details that you need to indicate on your agenda. Considering the components listed above, first indicate the date, time, and the meeting title on the agenda template. Gather the topics that are up for discussion during the meeting and itemize them on the outline. Specify the time allocation for each topic and discussion leaders, if there is a need to.

Provide a space for any additional items or questions that the members will possibly raise before the start of the meeting. Agenda for a formal meeting includes options such as Apologies for Absence, Approval of the Minutes from Previous Meeting, and Matters Arising (from previous meeting). Once the agenda is all ready, you can start sending out meeting requests along with the completed agenda. The participants need to respond whether to accept or decline the meeting. Those who have chosen to join the meeting must adhere to it. You may receive agenda requests that are sent back with additional items and questions. This is your chance to finalize the agenda. Lastly, the prepared meeting agenda has to be followed during the meeting proper. Benefits of an Agenda in a Meeting An effective meeting agenda offers many benefits in a meeting. It communicates pertinent information about the meeting to the participants and allows time for them to prepare prior to the meeting proper. It also works as a checklist of the list of attendees, goals, and topics for discussion to make sure that all the needed information is complete and covered. Since the agenda indicates the meeting objectives, it keeps the members focused on the specified goals. Of course, since a meeting agenda serves as a roadmap in a meeting, it keeps the discussion focused and lets the members stay on track with the subject matter.
Knowing that a meeting agenda is very important to create effective meetings, understanding the key concepts and making well-written meeting agenda would definitely make it easy for everyone to go through the meeting process smoothly and in an organized manner. A building that is constructed on a strong framework is built on a strong foundation. This same concept goes true for well-made meeting agenda.