Meeting Preparation

The Agenda

An agenda lists the items that must be discussed at a formal meeting. While the first topic should be the most important one, other topics to be discussed are placed in a logical order that may or may not descend in importance.

When organising a meeting, you must develop an agenda that clearly states the meeting goals and discussion topics.

Items to include in your agendas include:

Housekeeping	This includes attendee greetings, welcome, introductions, and apologies or messages regarding absentees.
Objectives/goals	These are the key objectives of the meeting.
Standing agenda items	These are generally raised/discussed in each meeting and could include project updates, looming deadlines, financial information etc.
Wins and losses	Not every company will address these items. It can be a positive way to review the wins for the company and openly discuss any ‘losses’ as a team.
Action items from previous meeting	Have the tasks outlined been completed? Can the team be updated on their progress?
Business arising	This can be anything raised in the last meeting but not discussed.
Key Points	This is the list of critical points to be discussed, including the speaker’s name for each point.
Open discussion	Things that are relevant to the whole team and have not been discussed/decided on previously.
Summary	This is the final summary of the meeting.

How to Develop an Agenda 

Before you begin developing an agenda, you should have defined the intention of your meeting and the desired outcomes, as these will (to a large extent) dictate the logical format of your agenda.

Outlining this essential information before you develop your agenda will help to ensure a meeting that is an effective and efficient use of everyone’s time.

Follow these steps to create your meeting’s agenda for any circumstances:

Identify the Meeting’s Goals

Beginning with your goals in mind will help ensure that the purpose of the meeting is clear and that all of your key topics are covered during the event.

Ask Participants for Input

Getting input from participants can help to keep everyone engaged and fulfil their needs and the goals of the meeting. Once you have the requests, you can review them to decide what to include in addition to your topics.

List the Questions you Intend to Address

Clarify your meeting topics by putting them into a question format. For example, rather than the topic Rental Equipment, you could write: Under what conditions should we rent equipment rather than buy it? 

Putting the topic into a question format helps generate discussion during the meeting, ensuring that all opinions are considered.

Identify the Purpose of Each Task

The three main purposes of a meeting are to:

1. Share information.
2. Seek input. 
3. Make a decision.

If you are clear on the purpose of each topic, the participants will also be clear on what outcome is needed.

Estimate Timing for Each Topic

Give more time to topics that you think will require a longer discussion and place the more important topics at the beginning of the meeting so that they can be discussed before time starts to run out. Giving the participants a time limit for each topic will drive lively discussion while ensuring that participants keep their comments concise.

Identify a Leader for Each Topic

The meeting chair does not need to lead the discussion on particular topics if there are more appropriate leaders in the room. If you plan on having others lead specific discussions, you should identify them under the relevant topic in your agenda.

End Each Meeting With a Review

Be sure to leave some time at the end of your meeting to review what has passed. This gives participants a chance to absorb and understand the decisions that have been made and the actions they need to take.

Summary

A meeting agenda is a list of items that participants hope to accomplish at a meeting. The agenda should be distributed in advance of a meeting, a minimum of 24 hours in advance so that participants can prepare for the meeting. If possible, the agenda should be available several days before the meeting.1

Some organisations might ask the broader team for input on the agenda to ensure all items of business are covered. This could be done via an email requesting agenda items or through an internal communications channel.

Other organisations might have a strict meeting agenda that is decided by management but allow time for open discussion.

Decision-making in a Meeting 

While specific meeting topics will inform participants of changes or information, other topics may be to make a decision. You, and all participants, must be clear that decisions during a general meeting are to be made by majority vote.

While it is the chair’s responsibility to keep the meeting running smoothly, it is not the chair’s responsibility to make decisions on behalf of the participants. The chair can, however, cast a vote alongside the votes of the other meeting participants as an equal in the deciding process.

 

There are different options to consider when preparing for your future meetings. In addition to timing and format, technology now allows you to choose in-person or remote meeting options.

Once you have your meeting’s purpose defined and its agenda created, there are a few more important considerations, namely:

The time of day to conduct your meeting

The content of the meeting can often dictate or determine the time of day you choose to have the meeting. Meetings that discuss important information are best held in the morning, once people have had a chance to read emails, get settled and prepare for the meeting. For example, it wouldn’t be wise to have a meeting at 3 pm as people tend to get tired or distracted.

The venue: offsite or in the office

This will often be determined by who is attending the meeting. If it is a team meeting, it would likely be held on-site. And if the meeting involved external stakeholders or clients, it might be more appropriate to have it offsite. It is important to note that some team meetings are also held offsite. It could be a planning or development meeting that requires a team of people to focus on a particular topic. Sometimes these are held offsite, so there are fewer distractions.

The medium: in-person or remotely (via online video call)

This is often required when dealing with team members, stakeholders or clients who might be working in a different city, state, country and or time zone.

With the convenience of today’s technology and the global nature of business in the digital age, you may decide to hold your meeting remotely, using software that enables online video conferencing.

In-Person Meetings

There are benefits and drawbacks of in-person meetings, including:

Benefits

Drawbacks

The atmosphere may be more dynamic when the meeting is in person. Meeting in person can help build a strong relationship between new colleagues, suppliers, and clients. In addition, trust can be developed faster because body language is interpreted and considered when we are in person. Meeting in person is very beneficial if you have physical samples to touch and look at for consideration. However, if you were conducting a virtual meeting, these samples would need to be posted early enough to arrive on time, and posting would cost money.

The time participants take to arrive at the destination if they come from different locations can be inconvenient and costly to all concerned. Furthermore, travelling from place to place can waste an entire day if someone has multiple meetings in various locations. Non-locals may be required at the meeting but might not be free to travel and attend. If they do travel, this will cost time and money.  Considering recent public health risks, social distancing may need to be maintained, along with mask-wearing and various other measures that may make the meeting uncomfortable for participants. In-person meetings are not nearly as cost-effective as logging on and clicking to attend virtually. In-person meetings are somewhat outdated, and the tools at your fingertips when using online meeting platforms and software add extra levels of convenience that are absent when people meet in person.

Virtual Meetings

There are also benefits and drawbacks of virtual meetings, including:

Benefits

Drawbacks

Increasing productivity is one of the main benefits of virtual meetings, with no travel or additional costs involved. People can have multiple meetings each day without factoring in the time for travel between meeting places. While body language interpretation at in-person meetings is seen as a benefit, the use of video conferencing means this can partly be replicated by ensuring that your participants can see each other and each other’s body language while on camera. A wider field of view is helpful for this. In-person meetings are somewhat outdated, and the tools at your fingertips when using online meeting platforms and software add extra levels of convenience that are absent when people meet in person

Some people may take time to get used to new technology, which can become a barrier if they feel inadequately supported to set up and run the software needed. You may be locked into a monthly or yearly subscription if you need to use particular software for video conferencing.

Virtual Meeting Options 

In addition to an offline conference call, there are several applications you can use to host a virtual meeting.

Some examples include Zoom, Go2Meetings, Cisco WebEx, Google Meet and Skype for Business, but there are others.

The applications available have varying degrees of security and usability, so your choice will depend on your organisation’s preferences and priorities.

Some are free; however, a subscription cost will be associated with most programs or platforms designed for business and advanced use.

There are some options to consider when choosing a virtual meeting application, including but not limited to:

• Will all participants always have internet access, or is a dial-in (audio-only) option necessary?
• How many people will be in attendance?
• Will application limits on the number of participants per virtual meeting impact your meeting?
• How secure are the virtual meeting rooms?
• Can somebody hack their way into your meeting? You may wish to opt for an application that offers you a unique URL for each meeting, meeting room passwords, and possibly a virtual waiting room where attendees can wait until you manually allow them to enter the virtual meeting one at a time.
• Will participants need to download the software or application, or can they join via a shared link only? This consideration may help you decide which platform or app to use, as some people may have trouble accessing the software.
• What features are available during the meeting, and will they add to the meeting experience? Some applications have chat windows to allow for text interaction or a raised hand feature enabling participants to indicate that they would like to speak. Some offer file sharing, whiteboards, and other useful and convenient tools.

We will now look at inviting and confirming participants to the meeting, as well as the documents you may need to provide in advance and other preparatory points that will help you to ensure a successful and productive meeting.

Meeting Confirmation 

Once you have established the agenda and meeting requirements, it is time to contact, invite and confirm the meeting with each participant. It may be helpful to work with key stakeholders on meeting availability to ensure attendance.

Each organisation will have unique channels and systems for contacting invitees and participants to meetings. Ask yourself the following: 

• Do you need to go through executive assistants for some of the invitees?
• Which channels and systems for meeting invitations are the most appropriate for each invitee?
• Is a typed email sufficient, or should you include an invitation using Microsoft Outlook (or similar software)?

Other policies may be in place in your organisation, including communication policies, confidentiality and privacy policies, authority levels, reporting lines and other policies such as an internet usage policy, social media policy and organisational or industry codes of conduct.

Internet Usage Policy	Guidelines and rules concerning the appropriate use of the organisation’s network, equipment and internet access are all contained herein. An internet usage policy protects both the business and the employee. It ensures that the employee knows that downloading specific files or visiting certain sites is strictly prohibited, meaning the business will have fewer security risks due to inappropriate internet use. This policy is likely to include appropriate use of email and internet facilities and may cover the use of email for harassment, sharing of lewd language or offensive images. It may, therefore, cross over with policies on workplace harassment and other behavioural issues.
Social Media Policy	These days, most organisations have a presence on social media, but even if they do not, they may still have a social media policy. In addition to covering their official social media interactions, this policy may cover how employees use social media in their professional and personal lives. A good social media policy can help to maintain your brand identity, prevent security breaches and prevent public relations crises. This policy allows your organisation to be upfront with employees regarding their social media responsibilities, urging them to reflect the brand’s message and not publicise themselves in a way that conflicts with it.
Codes of Conduct	Your workplace may have its own code of conduct, or it may be bound to the code of conduct of your industry. A code of conduct states the rules, ethical principles and (in some cases) the vision of the organisation or its industry. This ensures that staff understand the expected standards to which they must aspire and adhere while employed at the organisation.

Providing Documentation 

Meeting papers are any documents needed to conduct a meeting. They ensure everyone is informed about a meeting’s purpose and what topics will be covered so that attendees can prepare ahead of time. They can also provide clarification of discussions and decisions after a meeting.

The documentation you provide will depend on the type of meeting and your organisation’s policies and procedures.

Some examples include, but are not limited to:

• The agenda.
• The minutes and actions from the previous meeting.
• Relevant handouts that will be discussed at the meeting.
• Reading materials or reports for prior consideration or reference.

Before the meeting date, you must distribute the necessary documents to the attendees.

Steps to Prepare for Successful Meetings 

Agenda

• Develop your agenda.
• You may wish to use a template found on the internet, or your organisation may have agenda templates for you.

Meeting Requirements

• Are there any specific meeting requirements you need to adhere to?
• This may also include any organisational requirements specific to your workplace or legislative procedures related to your industry.

Choose the Meeting Format

• Will your meeting be in-person or virtual?
• If your meeting is in-person, what environment is best suited? Do you have a meeting room you can book at the office, or do you need to find an external venue?
• If your meeting is remote, will it be an online video or voice conference? Does everyone have the required software and internet access to attend?
• Putting the topic into a question format helps generate discussion during the meeting, ensuring that all opinions are considered.

Invite Participants

• List all the participants required to attend the meeting and decide how you will invite them.
• Consider how they will be confirming their attendance before sending the invitations.

Documents

• Consider what documents will be required for the meeting.
• Will these be provided to participants before the meeting or at its commencement?

These steps will help ensure you are well prepared for a successful meeting.

Activity 2C: Improve the Meeting

Think back to any meetings you have attended that were not well prepared.

1. How did this impact the outcomes of the meeting? 
2. How do you think matters could have been improved? 

In a separate document or on a piece of paper, note down your responses to these questions. This will help you in your assessments later on. 

Use the following questions to check your knowledge.