Meetings are an essential part of the corporate world. Also, they can be organizational or operational in nature. There are various reasons for which a meeting is conducted like resolving problems or issues, creating strategies for business promotion, exchanging ideas, ironing out the creases in process flows, etc. For the success of a meeting, it is important that the group involved supports it and it has the intention of achieving a common objective or goal. In this article, we will look at the intro and agenda of a meeting.
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Intro and Agenda of a Meeting
According to Wikipedia, a meeting is defined as follows:
‘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 an 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 video conference.’
Let’s take a quick look at the requisites for a meeting:
Choosing the Right Participants
Since the core idea of a meeting is to achieve a common goal, it is important that the participants are selected carefully. In many organizations, the choice of the participants for a meeting is usually based on people being in a team or a department. However, in order to have a good outcome, it is important to include participants who can contribute to the meeting and help in arriving at an agreement.
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Sending an Intimation to All Participants
It is important to send a notice for the meeting at least two to three days in advance. Also, a recognized authority must send the intimation. This allows the participants to gather the information required for the meeting. Typically, the notice includes information about the date, time, venue, names of the participants, and the agenda of the meeting.
Setting an Agenda of the Meeting
It is important to share an agenda with all participants before the meeting. An agenda is simply the framework of the meeting and includes the primary subject of the meeting and the names of the speakers along with the time allotted to each, etc. Therefore, an agenda must include:
- The purpose or objective of the meeting
- Details of the discussion topics
- Names and specific times allotted to each speaker
- The sequence in which the speakers will address the meeting
Appointing a Facilitator
In most meetings, an appointed facilitator helps to guide the meeting to its logical intimation. Hence, in simple words, a facilitator helps the group in reaching a consensus. He also ensures that the meeting does not stray away from the subject and provides a structure to the process while facilitating a conflict-free decision-making.
Arriving at Conclusions and Formulating the Next Steps
Most meetings do not come to clear and unanimous conclusions about the subjects under consideration. Therefore, once the topics on the agenda are discussed, summarizing the deductions and finalizing the future steps is critical. Also, most successful meetings end with a brief recount of the proceedings and a summary of the future course of action.
Allowing Ideas to Flow Freely with Maximum Participation
A meeting loses its purpose if all the participants cannot freely express their opinions and/or views about the subject under consideration. For example, if the senior management drives the meeting and the juniors are merely answering questions directed towards them, then they are not really participating in the meeting. Hence, a meeting must allow multiple perspectives to flow freely and have the true essence of teamwork.
Solved Question on Agenda of a Meeting
Q1. What are the requisites of a meeting?
Answer: The requisites of a meeting are:
- Selecting the right participants
- Informing all participants in advance
- Setting an Agenda
- Appointing a facilitator
- Summarizing the meeting along with an action plan for the future
- Allowing free flow of ideas
Thus, this concludes our discussion on the given topic.
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