Unit Three At a meeting Unit Three At a meeting

Cultural tipsCultural tips

How to Conduct a Successful Meeting

The first step is to have an established agenda prepared.

Planning for your meeting is the most important step to

establish your agenda. You should outline each of your

topics that need to be addressed and any important points

you do not want to forget to cover. To be most effective,

you should make a copy of

your agenda for each party

participating in your meeting.

How to Conduct a Successful Meeting

The second step is to keep focused on the agenda. The balance between keeping all your participants involved and not straying from the focus of the agenda can be a challenge. When you notice the flow of the meeting is away from your agenda, steer the conversation back to the topic at hand. On occasion this may require you to stop the

meeting and refocus. You can suggest the topic generating the discussion be tabled, or if the topic has brought up another topic, add that to a future agenda.

How to Conduct a Successful Meeting

The third step is to ensure everyone involved in themeeting has an opportunity to express his/her opinionand feedback on each topic. A successful meeting makeeach participant fell like they were a part of the meeting.Ensuring this requires the facilitator to addressParticipants individually and explore their opinion on the given topic.

How to Conduct a Successful Meeting

The final step is to allow time for others to shareInformation or discuss topics that were not covered on theagenda. Brainstorming can often generate the best ideasand results, so be sure to set aside enough time to covertopics that are related to the issues at hand, but that werenot apart of your initial agenda. Allow each participant the freedom to express ideas without concern of negative feedback.

How to Conduct a Successful MeetingHow to Conduct a Successful Meeting

These are guidelines and you should trust

your participants attending the meeting and

the topics to be discussed. Prepare,

focus, facilitate and brainstorm your way to a successful

meeting.

Return