Meeting

Before the Meeting:

 1. Set goals
Whether it is a standalone session, weekly or monthly review, or one in a series covering an ongoing project decide what you want to accomplish.
2. Prepare an agenda
Ask key players if they have agenda items so that you can plan the meeting content appropriately. If urgent items mean that your meeting may be hijacked or diverted, revise your meeting goals and plan another session.
3. Send out the agenda before the meeting
Provide background information that participants need in order to engage in productive discussion. Give specific instructions on actions that participants need to take before arriving at your session—ask them to brainstorm ideas on a certain topic, gather information for presentation, or send reports for review.

Want to read more about holding a productive meeting? Check these out:

• 5 Innovative Tools To Spice Up Your Next Meeting
• 5 Ways To Maximize Value Of One-On-One Employee Meetings
• 5 Ways To Improve Meetings

During the Meeting:

1. Start on time
Explain the ground rules for discussion—limiting times on certain topics if needed—and remind participants of your desire to keep the meeting short but productive.
2. Identify those topics that need further discussion in another meeting
Interject that you or someone you nominate will plan a smaller-group session to explore these issues.
3. Model appropriate responses
Your responses should encourage fresh ideas while avoiding off-topic rambling. Ask for input from specific people who should have the most pertinent insights.

After the Meeting:

1. Prepare and distribute follow-up notes
Include action items required of participants. Reiterate specific assignments and their due dates.
2. Encourage participants to ask questions
Respond promptly to any concerns and give guidance as needed, further elaborating on your expectations for participation.
3. Clarify points of discussion as needed
If you discover that anyone was confused about decisions made or action steps after the meeting, promptly correct any wrong thinking. This approach will help avoid rehashing problems at subsequent meetings.

Meeting Disruptors:

I have found that these nine steps can mitigate the impact of the few participants who tend to dominate and drag out meetings. Who are they?
The Storytellers
They share a story that conveys a concept in a way that traditional methods do not. But they tell and retell the same story, making the same analogy to every new situation that arises.
The Unprepared
Their job, they think, is simply to respond to points in the meeting without forethought. They mistakenly believe that gut reactions are the best and that thoughtful reflection has no place in an action-oriented world.
The Point-Makers
They make strong, well-reasoned cases for certain ideas. Their points could benefit productivity except that they are asserted and restated over and over, over and over.
The Complainers
These employees bring up a past mistake or problem, which may have been relevant at one time but is not pertinent to the discussion at hand. The wrong occurred years ago and root causes that led to the problem have been addressed.
The Detailers
They provide minute details of their work areas at every single meeting. They anticipate and then answer questions that will never be asked.
The Question-Askers
They combine the worst of the unprepared and the detailers as well as the point-makers and complainers. These people seem to be a blank slate in terms of organizational experience and domain knowledge.

This Meeting's Takeaway
Engage people outside of the meeting, before and after, to deal with tangential ideas and topics that may slow progress. Be clear, specific, and firm about what you want to accomplish in each meeting. Model brevity (that is, stop yourself from relating another story or giving your two cents after others have contributed theirs). Finally, let participants know that you will keep meetings short if everyone stays focused.

Meaning Of Meeting

Generally, meeting means an occasion when people come together to discuss or decide something. Meeting member to get together and discuss a problem or issue or a special matter. It is also defined as a situation in which two or more people meet together in order to take a decision. It is an effective and important tool in the communication process. Meeting enables face to face contact with a number of people at the same time. Many meetings take place in a business organization. Some definitions of people at the same time. Many meetings take place in a business organization.

Advantages Of Meeting

In the business organizations meetings are used for a variety of purpose. There are some advantages of meeting which are stated below:
Democratic process: Meeting is a democratic process of taking decision. None can blame other for the decision because it is taken in presence of all the members.
Improve decision: Improve decision can be taken through meeting. Because every matter is discussed pros and cons and nothing is left over unconsidered. Proverb says ”Two heads are better than one.”
Participative management: Participative management can be materialized through meeting. Al the departmental heads and supervisors may sit together for taking decision.
Help in co-ordination: Meeting can help for co-coordinating the work as a whole because all the parties or members are presented in the meeting.
Covey information to a large gathering: Meeting can convey information for all departments. Besides the presented members exchange their views, idea, opinion and feeling at a large gathering.
Others: Provide necessary information to a group of people, report on some incidents or activities, create involvement and interest, formulate policies etc.

Disadvantages Of Meeting

There are some limitations and disadvantages of meeting. These limitations and disadvantages are discussed below:
Time-consuming: Meeting takes much time to take decision. We know that to hold a meeting is very time-consuming.
Costly: It is too much expensive. Because the company has to decorate the conference room, pay the T.A. and D. A. to the members, pay for cards etc.
Formalities: There are many formalities to hold on a meeting. Agenda, minutes, regulations are needed for a valid meeting.
Difficult to control: Sometimes it becomes very difficult for the speaker or chairman to control over the meeting because proverb says, “Many men many minds.”

Beginning a Meeting

To start the meeting, the meeting leader (who is called the chairperson or chair) may use one of these phrases:

• Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming today.
• Since everyone is here, let’s get started.
• First, I’d like to welcome you all.

If there are new people in the meeting, or people from different departments who might not know each other, the chairperson may introduce them:

• I’d like to take a moment to introduce… [name + description]
  I’d like to take a moment to introduce Carla, from the public relations department.
• Please join me in welcoming [name + description]
  Please join me in welcoming Jim, a consultant who will be helping us with project management.
• Sheila, would you like to introduce yourself?

Finally, it’s good to state the specific topic or objective of the meeting, in order to focus the discussion:

• As you can see from the agenda, we’ll be talking about… [topic]
• I’ve called this meeting in order to … [goal]
• Our main goal today is to … [goal]
  Our main goal today is to determine the budget for 2013.

Asking for Opinions

Meetings often begin with the presentation of some information and then a request for opinions. To ask people for their opinions, you can say:

• What does everyone think about…?
• I’d like to get your feedback on…
• What are your thoughts about… ?
• What are your views on… ?

After one person has expressed his or her opinion, you can say “Thanks,” to acknowledge the opinion, then use these phrases to ask for more people to respond:

• What does everyone else think?
• Are there any other comments?

If there’s a specific person who you would like to hear from, you can ask him or her directly by using these phrases:

• Susan, can we get your input?
• Would you like to add anything, Susan?
• Giving Your Opinion

Now let’s learn some phrases for giving your opinion – with some detail in order to give you some flexibility in the way you express your opinion:

Strong

• I strongly believe that…
• I’m positive that…
• I’m convinced that…
• I have no doubt whatsoever that…
• There’s no question that…
  (strongest)

Normal

• I think / believe / feel that…
• From my point of view…
• In my experience… / I find that…
  (use these phrases to base your opinion on your experience)
• I’d say that…
• If you want my honest opinion, I think that… / To be honest…
  (use these phrases when you want to express a negative or critical opinion. The word “honest” is a diplomatic way to signal that you are going to say something negative or unpopular)

Weak

• It seems to me that…
• It’s possible that…
• I tend to think that…
• My initial reaction is…
  (use this phrase to show that this is an opinion you haven’t thought very deeply about)

Agreeing / Disagreeing

Once other people in the meeting have expressed their opinions, you can react by agreeing or disagreeing. Here are some appropriate phrases for this purpose – again, based on degree of strength.

Strong agreement:

• I completely agree.
• I couldn’t agree more.
• You’re absolutely right.

Normal agreement:

• Exactly!
• That’s just how I see it.
• I’m with Peter on this.
  (you can use this phrase to refer to another colleague’s opinion)

Partial agreement:

• Well, it depends.
• I agree with you up to a point, but…
  (this means that you agree with some of the opinion, but not all of it)
• I agree with you in principle, but…
  (this means you agree with the opinion in theory, but not in practice)

Normal Disagreement:

In English, saying “I disagree” can be a little too direct, and may be considered impolite. Use one of these phrases instead, to disagree diplomatically:

• I’m afraid I disagree.
• I’m not so sure about that.
• I see it differently.
• Yes, but…
• Not necessarily.

Strong disagreement:

Finally, here are some phrases for disagreeing strongly. The words “I’m sorry” make the phrase more polite.

• I’m sorry, but I completely disagree.
• I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with that at all.

Settling a disagreement:

What do you do if you’re in charge of a meeting and people are arguing? Use one of these phrases to settle the disagreement and continue the meeting:

• We don’t seem to be getting anywhere with this, so maybe we could discuss it further at another time.
• Let’s move on. I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree.

Suggestions

If you’d like to make a suggestion or recommendation, you can use these phrases. The “weaker” phrases introduce an option as a possibility. The “stronger” phrases give more emphasis to your belief that it is a good idea.

Weak:

• We could…
• Why don’t you/we….?
• How about…?
• What about…?

Strong:

• I suggest…
• I recommend…
• We should…
• Let’s…

Note:

We could / Why don’t we / We should / Let’s are followed by the base form of the verb:

• We could invest in new technology.

How about / What about / I suggest / I recommend are followed by the -ING form:

• How about investing in new technology?

Interrupting

At times, you might want to interrupt the discussion to add a point. Here are three polite ways to do that:

• May I have a word?
• Could I just say one thing?
• Excuse me – sorry for interrupting, but…
• Controlling the meeting

If you’re controlling the meeting, you’ll need these phrases to move the discussion to the next item on the agenda:

• I think we’ve spent enough time on this topic. Moving on…
• If nobody has anything else to add, let’s move on to the next item.
• We’re running short on time, so let’s move on.
• I’d like to skip item 2 and go directly to item 3.
  (This means you want to go from item 1 directly to item 3)

If you’d like to give control of the discussion to another person, you can say this:

• I’d like to hand it over to Brian, who is going to lead the next point.
• Next, Brian is going to tell us about…

Finally, it’s common for discussions to go off topic – however, you can bring the discussion back to the main point by using one of these phrases:

• I’m afraid that’s outside the scope of this meeting.
• I think we’re getting a bit off topic.
• We’d better save that for another meeting.
• Let’s get back on track, OK?
• Getting back to… [topic]

Closing

At the end of the meeting, use one of these phrases to close it:

• It looks like we’ve covered the main items on the agenda.
• That will be all for today.
• If no one has anything else to add, then I think we’ll wrap this up.

You can also use a phrase similar to the ones used at the end of presentations, such as “Let me quickly summarize the main points.”

You can also set a date for the next meeting:

Our next meeting will be… / Let’s get together…

• on January 29th.
• on the first Monday of next month.
• two weeks from today.

PRECONDITIONS OF A VALID MEETING
A valid meeting should have the following elements:

1. Legal objectives: Any meeting must have legal objectives. Meetings on illegal or unethical purposes cannot be valid in the eye of law.
2. Convened by proper authority: A valid meeting should be contended by the proper authority of the company.
3. Serving proper notice in proper time: Notice of a meeting must be served timely by maintaining rules and regulations of the companies act.
4. Presence of authorized persons: To make a meeting valid person who is entitled to present in a particular type of meeting should be present at the meeting.
5. Presided over by a chairman: A valid meeting should be presided over by a chairman who will be selected by the members.
6. Specific agenda: A detail agenda should be prepared before the meeting and the meeting should be operated by following agenda.
7. Quorum: Quorum is the minimum number of persons that must be present at the meeting to make it valid.