BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
1. What are the purposes of a meeting?
Ø There are some purposes of meeting, such as :
a.
To sort out any
conflicts.
b.
To negotiate a
contract or agreement, or matters to do with it.
c.
To deal with a
current problem within the group or within the business or organization.
d.
To receive a report
for assessment and review.
e.
To supply information
to those present or to canvas views of those present on the particular matter
at hand.
1. What are the types of meeting?
·
Meeting Type 1: Status Update Meetings
Status update meetings is one
of the most common meeting types. This category includes regular team and
project meetings, where the primary goal is to align the team via updates on
progress, challenges, and next steps. Commonly found group activities in these
kinds of meetings are problem solving, decision making, prioritization, and task assignment.
·
Meeting Type 2: Information Sharing Meetings
Presentations, panel debates, keynotes, and lectures
are all examples of information sharing meetings. The primary goal of these
meeting is for the speakers to share information with the attendees. This
could be information about things like upcoming changes, new products
and techniques, or in depth knowledge of a domain. Visual communication
tools, like slides and videos, are powerful tools for
making the shared information more memorable.
At
information sharing meetings the attendees have historically been passive
listeners. With new technologies like MeetingSift they can use their smart devices to go
from passive spectators to active participants, making the meeting more
engaging and enjoyable for all.
Meeting Type 3: Decision
Making Meetings
The
vast majority of business decisions are made by groups in meetings. While
small decisions are made in all kinds of meetings, the more important decisions
often get their own dedicated meetings. There are different types of group decision making processes, and care should be taken to choose a
process that best matches the situation. A decision making process can include
group processes like information gathering and sharing, brainstorming solutions, evaluating options, ranking preferences, and
voting.
Meeting Type 4: Problem Solving
Meetings
Problem
solving meetings are perhaps the most complex and varied type of meetings.
Whether the meeting is addressing an identified problem, or it is focusing on
creating strategies and plans to navigate the future, there are a rich arsenal
of group processes that can be used. Scopes and priorities need to be defined,
opportunities and threats need to be identified, and possible solutions
should be brainstormed, evaluated, and agreed upon.
·
Meeting Type 5: Innovation
Meetings
Innovation
meetings and creative meetings often start with thinking outside the box,
by brainstorming, associating, and sharing ideas in a
broad scope. Meeting participants can then use various techniques and processes
to reduce the diverse pool of ideas to a more focused short list. Through
ranking, evaluations, and decision making the most
suitable idea, or ideas, are identified, and recommendations and tasks can be
assigned based on this
Meeting Type 6: Team Building Meetings
A contribute to team building, strengthening relationships and
corporate culture. However, now and then team building activities should be the main focus for a
meeting. This category include meetings like include all-hands meetings,
kick-off meetings, team building outings, and corporate events. Have
participants feel like essential parts of their unit, team, department,
branch, and company has all kinds of positive impact on their engagement,
performance, and satisfaction.
http://meetingsift.com/the-six-types-of-meetings/
1. What makes a good meeting?
In
a good meeting, participants' ideas are heard, decisions are made through group
discussion and with reasonable speed, and activities are focused on desired
results. Good meetings help generate enthusiasm for a project, build skills for
future projects, and provide participants with techniques that may benefit them
in their future careers.
Good
meetings require good leaders and good participants. A good leader understands
the purpose of a meeting, makes sure that all participants understand this
purpose, helps keep the discussion on track, works with participants to carry
out the business of the meeting in the time allotted, and tries to ensure that
everyone is involved appropriately in discussions. These responsibilities often
require a leader to distribute an agenda and other written materials prior to a
meeting.
Good
participants come to a meeting prepared for the business at hand—with reports
ready, concerns over key issues thought out, and questions about key issues
organized. They also bring to the table their best listening skills and group
manners. These participants, for example, take turns talking, stay on the point
of discussion, and help to move decisions forward.
here are some steps to make a good
meeting :
Consider your desired outcome.
Before you
reserve a room and send out invitations, take a few moments to consider why you
want to call your meeting in the first place. Who should be present? What outcomes do you expect as a result
of the meeting? What impact do you hope to have? As with any tool, meetings
yield desirable results only when their limitations are taken into
consideration.
Create an agenda.
Once you
clearly understand the reasons for your meeting and your intended outcomes,
create an agenda. Clear agendas drive successful meetings. The agenda not only
tells people what to expect, it outlines topics of discussion, sets the context
and scope, lists key issues, and states desired objectives.
Identify and invite key participants.
Identify key
people you need in the meeting. Include anyone you believe will help you get
the information and results you need-;no more and no less. This list is easier
to compose once you have an agenda completed. Avoid excluding knowledgeable
people based on politics. Include any people, groups, or departments that you're certain will be
affected by your meeting. Have a plan for distributing your results to those
who were present--and also to anyone invited but unable to attend.
Present the issues and stay focused on the goal.
Begin and end
your meeting on time. Make sure you have any tools, data, and reports you need
readily available before your meeting starts and put it in the meeting space in
advance. Don't waste meeting time hooking up equipment, checking connections,
or looking for files on your laptop if these tasks can be completed earlier.
Wrap-up the meeting.
Once the agenda
has been covered, or your allotted time is up, wrap up the meeting. Avoid the
urge to continue by addressing any new issues that may come up. The wrap-up
officially closes the meeting. It confirms, clarifies, and recaps what was
discussed--and everyone's understanding of the situation or goals.
2. What are the characteristic of successful meeting?
Characteristics
of a good meeting
·
The "atmosphere," which can be
sensed in a few minutes of observation tends to be informal, comfortable, and
relaxed. There are no obvious
tensions. It is a working atmosphere in
which people are involved and interested.
There are no signs of boredom.
·
There is a lot of discussion in which
virtually everyone participates, but it remains pertinent to the task of the
group. If the discussion gets off the
subject, someone will bring it back in short order.
·
The task or the objective of the group is
well understood and accepted by the members.
There will have been free discussion of the objective at some point
until it was formulated in such a way that the members of the group could
commit themselves to it.
·
The members listen to each other! The discussion does not have the quality of
jumping from one idea to another unrelated one.
Every idea is given a hearing.
People do not appear to be afraid of being foolish by putting forth a
creative thought even if it seems fairly extreme.
·
There is disagreement. The group is comfortable with this and shows
no signs of having to avoid conflict or to keep everything on a plane of
sweetness and light. Disagreements are
not suppressed or overridden by premature group action. The reasons are carefully examined, and the
group seeks to resolve them rather than to dominate the dissenter.
·
Most decisions are reached by a kind of
consensus in which it is clear that everybody is in general agreement and
willing to go along. However, there is
little tendency for individuals who oppose the action to keep their opposition
private and thus let an apparent consensus mask real disagreement. Formal voting is at a minimum; the group does
not accept a simple majority as a proper basis for action.
·
Criticism is frequent, frank, and relatively
comfortable. There is little evidence of
personal attack, either openly or in a hidden fashion. The criticism has a constructive flavor in
that it is oriented toward removing an obstacle that faces the group and
prevents it from getting the job done.
·
People are free in expressing their feelings
as well as their ideas both on the problem and on the group's operation. There is little pussyfooting, there are few
"hidden agendas". Everybody
appears to know quite well how everybody else feels about any matter under
discussion.
·
When action is taken, clear assignments are
made and accepted.
·
The chairman of the group does not dominate
it, nor on the contrary, does the group defer unduly to him. In fact, as one observes the activity, it is
clear that the leadership shifts from time to time, depending on the
circumstances. Different members,
because of their knowledge or experience, are in a position at various times to
act as "resources" for the group.
The members utilize them in this fashion and they occupy leadership
roles while they are thus being used.
·
There is little evidence of a struggle for
power as the group operates. The issue
is not who controls but how to get the job done.
·
The group is self-conscious about its own
operations. Frequently, it will stop to
examine how well it is doing or what may be interfering with its
operation. The problem may be a matter
of procedure, or it may be an individual whose behavior is interfering with
the accomplishments of the group's objectives.
Whatever it is, it gets open discussion until a solution is found.
rastahl.fatcow.com/Characteristics%20of%20a%20Good%20Meeting.doc
