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Topic 10-CONDUCTING MEETINGS AND MINUTES WRITING

The document discusses conducting meetings and writing meeting minutes. It defines meetings and their purposes, describes different types of meetings and their characteristics. It also covers preparing for and conducting meetings, taking meeting minutes, and challenges and advantages of meetings.

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lawrence momanyi
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
30 views7 pages

Topic 10-CONDUCTING MEETINGS AND MINUTES WRITING

The document discusses conducting meetings and writing meeting minutes. It defines meetings and their purposes, describes different types of meetings and their characteristics. It also covers preparing for and conducting meetings, taking meeting minutes, and challenges and advantages of meetings.

Uploaded by

lawrence momanyi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CONDUCTING MEETINGS AND MINUTES WRITING

Definition:

A meeting is a gathering of two or more people that has been convened for the pupose of achieving
a common goal through verbal interaction such as sharing and reaching an agreement.

Roles of meetings

• Gathering information.
• Is to coordinate activities e.g. a meeting of head of departments
• To provide the frame-work within which risks and sensitive issues can be shared and
discussed before action is taken
• To update participants on the current state of the affairs in the organization e.g. measures
being taken to eradicate problems within the organization
• It gives people an opportunity to solve their problems
• It brings people together to consult on key issues
• To exchange information or views
• To make policies for organization
• To express grievances
• To persuade people to agree with set proposals
• Conduct training
• Communicating information from the management to the workers

Types of meetings

1. Formal meetings
Formal meetings follow rules set down in statutes, constitutions, and standing orders for by-laws.
They are preplanned meetings, have predetermined set of topics and objectives that one wishes to
achieve.

The records of these meetings are properly kept and they guide the subsequent meetings. Examples
of such meetings include: company general meetings, executive committee meetings, and board
of directors meetings, managerial meetings.

Documentation includes notice, agenda, motions and minutes.

2. Informal meeting

In these meetings, there are no formal rules or procedures. They take a more relaxed approach.
They are generally not planned in advance.
Documentation is not formally done, notes instead of minutes may be written. Examples of such
meeting include encounter meetings, brainstorming meetings, working party meetings, and
intradepartmental meetings, status update meetings.

Distinction between formality and informality is determined by the climate or atmosphere


generated within an organization.

Preparation

In preparing for a meeting, you will need to do the following:

• Determine the meetings objective


• Members must be given adequate time and notice of the meeting
• Workout the agenda that will achieve the objective
• The venue must be chosen in advance and should be suitable lighting, ventilation and
temperature of the room is adequate.
• The time of the meetings must be convenient and duration specified
• Determine sitting needs
• Arrange for light refreshments
• Select participants
• Determine whether the the leader must be adequately prepared

Conducting the meetings

1. Begin the meeting on time


2. Set clearly the objectives of the meeting which should be reinforced in the opening
introduction of the chairperson.
3. Verify that the group understands the objectives of the meeting.
4. Encourage participation from everyone
5. Control the meeting by following the announced agenda.
6. Make frequent summaries of the best alternative
7. Where appropriate appoint a committee for action
8. As a leader, express your opinion last.
9. Summarize and clarify meetings results.
10. At the conclusion of the meeting, should set a date for the next one and thank the
participants for the attendance and contributions
11. A true record of the minutes should be noted
12. Close/end the meeting in time

Advantages of meetings

I. Likely to develop solutions than any one individual could do.


II. Provide free interchange of ideas, stimulates and clarifies thinking
III. Group decisions could promote more effective coordination of subsequent action plans
IV. Group is likely to take bigger risky than any individual would
V. You can pool ideas, to increase efficiency meeting s build good working relationship-
individuals have diverse opinions which are ready to be shared and discussed
VI. Meetings boost individual morale
VII. Meetings enhance team building.

Disadvantages of meetings

i. May opt for first available solution


ii. may be difficult to a decision
iii. may be difficult to pin responsibility to any individual in a meeting would turn out to be
ineffective if the organizer failed to properly facilitate the session and be and if the meeting
agenda is not observed
iv. unnecessarily repetition of old ideas from previous meeting s pointless
v. personality control- meeting problematic people
vi. possible existence of conflicts- disagreements are expected in an interaction but when
arguments get out of hand the meeting will get out of hand the meeting will end up in
conflict
vii. confusion between meeting process and the content also happens
viii. decisions become hard to attain
ix. participants may loose work of key issues
x. you cannot expect meeting to effective all the time
xi. some meeting participants resort to problem avoidance in a meeting where the common is
that every and no problems on issues should be discussed
xii. there are possibilities of power tripping or manipulation by the leader especially if personal
objectives are involved

Challenges of meetings

I. Run out of time keeping the agenda and the objectives in the participants mind
II. Some participants rush to make decisions
III. Some do not want to participate
IV. When one or two participants take over the discussions some participant are checking their
mails or doing their work during meetings
V. Dealing with conflicts, when the person in charge has different objectives, views than the
participants
VI. How to keep everyone involved in discussions and decision making.

Minute taking

Def: Minutes are written records of the previous meetings that were held by the management,
board or staff in the organisation

 Records of meetings must be written and stored to be retrieved when need arises

 In committees or group meetings there must be a chairman to spearhead the meeting as


well as a secretary to write the minutes as the meeting proceeds

Importance of Minutes

1. They are the official records of issues discussed and agreed.


2. They may be used in implementing organisational decisions.
3. They may be used as evidence in the courts of law

Points to note

i. Minutes are expected to be accurate, clear and complete before they are stored as official
records of the organisation
ii. The language used when writing minutes must be objective and non-biased.

iii. Minutes should focus on results and agreed on actions

iv. Minutes should be highly summarized, not a burden to read – be brief; summarize
outcomes and points of agreement and disagreement; don’t record detailed input

Layout of Minutes
Heading - The name of the committee or other unit and the date, location, and starting time of
the meeting e.g.

Minutes ………meeting held in…………on………..at………

Members present

1. Chairman

2. Secretary

3. Member

In attendance

1. Transport officer

2. Chief security officer

3. Kenya School of law rep.

 Absent with apologies

 Absent

 Agenda

 Min. 1/9/5/2012: Communication from the chair

 Min. 2/9/5/2012: Confirmation of minutes

 Min. 3/9/5/2012: Matters arising

 Min. 4/9/5/2012:

 Min. 5/9/5/2012: A.O.B

 Min. 6/9/5/2012: Next Meeting

 Confirmation
Confirmed by:

1. Chairman Signature Date

1. Secretary Signature Date

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