BUS 528 - Effective Meeting Guidelines

 (refer to page 275)

Last Friday, I was invited to a meeting for organizing an activity in October. Follow to the effective meeting guidelines as we read on the book:

Before the meeting – Yes, I received the invitation by a phone call few days before the meeting. I did know the purpose of the meeting and who else will be attending the meeting.

During the meeting - I got the copy of meeting agenda, but there were just few items and described roughly for discussing. People came about 20 late before the meeting got starting. We followed the agenda instruction and discussed the topics. We had a temporary recorder tracking decision and key points for the actions. But there were just few people kept talking, most of us stayed silent for the entire meeting....it’s a dinner meeting setting at 7:00 pm, we were very hungry!

Ending the meeting – The chair did not summarized the meeting, he ended the meeting suddenly and asked to serve dinner right after the meeting.

After the meeting – I received the meeting minutes about two days later. But there didn’t note about the next meeting date.

I don’t think it was a successful meeting and did not follow the effective meeting guidelines at all because it proceeded very sloppy. It combined with a dinner and a meeting; I doubt it is a good idea to call a meeting. If I’m the chair, I’ll prefer set up the meeting either before or after the meal. Probably I’ll set up meeting time at 6:00 pm before the dinner, so that people would more concentrate on discussion. When all the attendees are seated, I will emphasis the importance of “on time” that makes our meeting effectively. During the meeting, I’ll encourage everyone to express their opinions and get the maximum feedback from people. At the end of meeting, the chair should summarize the meeting by reviewing the decisions and action items and reserve a schedule for the next meeting date.