other colleagues interrupted them saying they had booked the room from 10.30 a.m. The lesson: check your arrangements.
These lists may seem unimportant but you only have to forget one detail to realize that working through a check list is essential.
Have you ever been at a meeting where you all look at each other and realize that the person who is most needed at the meeting isn’t present? You need to take care over inviting the relevant participants to attend the meeting.
To invite participants:
▪ Check their availability on your computer system or contact them by phone or email to see if they’re available. If the meeting is a regular one, for example of a subcommittee, then there will be little choice over who to invite. However, if the meeting is taking place only on that occasion, then you need to take certain steps. Begin by checking that the most important person/people can attend. Confirm their availability in an email so there is no doubt later. If you want people to attend only the part of a meeting that is relevant to them, then make that clear.
▪ Invite those participants who need to attend. Some people suggest that you should invite many people on the basis of not wanting to offend those who are not invited. However, if you have too many participants, then the discussion is likely to last a long time and it will be difficult to reach decisions. (On the other hand, if you invite too few people, then those who are present may complain that other people’s interests are not being heard and so consider that the meeting lacks authority.)
▪ If you are in doubt about who to invite, then check who was present at similar meetings in the past and/or discuss the choice with the chairs of other meetings to make sure you do not exclude anyone essential.
▪ It is good to have a mix of people, i.e. you do not want all the participants to agree with one another. Disagreements can sometimes be a healthy way to help refine the road ahead.
▪ Send an email confirming the following:
▪ The date and time of the meeting (start time and likely finish time) and the venue. You may want to invite them to come a few minutes before the meeting if refreshments are available.
▪ The subject of the meeting and any agenda and papers to be read (these could be sent at a later date but should still be sent well before the meeting). If the person is expected to lead discussion on a particular point, then confirm that, too. If they want to use a PowerPoint presentation, then ask them to bring it on their own laptop and also on a memory stick (saved in an earlier version of PowerPoint in case their laptop fails and you need to use another one).
▪ Directions to the venue, with links to maps or notes on car parking or access by public transport.
▪ A request to let you know of any special requirements.
▪ Your contact details, including on the day, e.g. if their train is late they can still contact you on your mobile and not be put through to an office voicemail.
▪ If relevant, guidelines on dress code.
Ask the people you invite to confirm they can attend by a certain date, e.g. so that you can finalize numbers for catering purposes.
The agenda is the list of items to be discussed at the meeting. It should be circulated to those attending the meeting well in advance, together with any relevant papers or reports to be discussed during the meeting.
You should include the following in the agenda:
▪ The name of the committee, etc., of the company or organization.
▪ The date and time of the meeting and the venue.
▪ A list of the members who will attend the meeting. My preference is to list these in the following order to show the roles of the individuals: Ray Smith (chair), then every other individual with their job title listed either in terms of seniority (the highest/most important coming first) or in alphabetical order of their family name. The name of the person taking the minutes should also be given.
▪ Apologies (this means any individuals who should be present at the meeting but who cannot attend will have their apologies noted).
▪ Regular items such as:
▪ Minutes of the previous meeting held on [insert date]. This is the opportunity for the minutes of the previous meeting to be approved and signed as a correct record.
▪ Matters arising. These are matters that have arisen from the previous minutes but are not listed on the present agenda.
▪ Financial reports and other progress reports.
▪ New items to be discussed at the meeting. Here, it is useful for the most important items to be discussed as soon as possible, rather than being left to the end.
▪ Don’t try to fit too many items of significant new business into the meeting.
▪ The final item on the agenda should ideally be positive, to avoid participants leaving the meeting in a negative mood.
Two items often come at the end of the agenda:
▪ AOB (any other business). This is the opportunity for individuals at the meeting to raise other items to discuss. However, participants should ideally not raise significant items without informing the chair before the meeting.
▪ DONM (date of next meeting). To arrange the date of the next meeting of the committee, group, etc.
Agendas also sometimes include the following:
▪ the name of the individual (or their initials) who will lead the discussion of a particular point;
▪ the length of time that a particular point is planned to take.
Send out the agenda with a covering note well in advance of the meeting, to give participants enough time to prepare for it.
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