The meeting planner needs to clearly envision the meeting as he or she wants and expects it to be carried out.


3 Will food or refreshments be provided? Meeting Action Plan


The meeting planner needs to clearly envision the meeting as he or she wants and expects it to be carried out. It often is helpful to develop a storyboard in order to clearly visu- alize and plan for the phases of the meeting, clearly state what one wants to accomplish during each phase, and the actions that will need to be taken during each phase in order to accomplish each of the meeting objectives.


While developing the storyboard, it is also helpful to simultane- ously develop any needed checklists to be used during the meeting to ensure that nothing is forgotten (e.g., that minutes are captured, action items are assigned, summaries of the meeting’s accomplish- ments and decision points are generated and disseminated, and so forth).


Once the logistics are outlined and the meeting planner has a clear vision of the intended meeting in mind, he or she is now ready to develop the meeting agenda, which should include the following information. 3 Proposed topics for discussion 3 Discussion leader for each topic 3 Time allotted to each topic


Next, a meeting invitation, along with the meeting agenda, should be distributed to expected attendees, no less than one to two weeks prior to the meeting date. The meeting invitation should clearly state the goals of the meeting, where and when the meeting will be held, and whether or not participants are allowed to request additional agenda items - and, if so, how and within what time- frame. If additional agenda items are allowed, a revised and final


meeting agenda should be distributed to attend- ees no later than two days prior to the meeting.


Meeting Closeout


Meetings, like projects themselves, go through the phases of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closeout.


While conducting the meeting, the meeting leader executes the meeting plan that has been developed, and he or she monitors and controls the meeting to ensure the meeting plan is followed. The meeting is closed out by ensuring that all items on the meeting checklists have either been completed or moved forward to future meetings. Closeout also includes ensuring that action items gener- ated by the meeting have been listed and that individuals have been assigned to each action item. The final step in closing out a meeting is to distribute and finalize the meeting minutes. Meeting management - including meeting planning - is not unique to the field of project management. However, applying some of the tools, techniques and methods utilized by project managers to the process of meeting management can increase the chances of holding meetings that add genuine value to a team’s business endeavors.


Robert Ware is vice president of instruction for Project Masters, Inc. He has more than 30 years of experience in design and implementation of automated information processing systems for government, educa- tional and private organizations. He has extensive experience in training and educating others in the concepts and use of these systems as well as in managing information systems projects. Robert can be reached at rware@projmasters.com.


WWW.MIDWESTMEETINGS.COM - ALL NEW LOOK, ALL NEW PURPOSE, ALL FOR YOU 27


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140