Organizing Meetings - Assignment Example

Title: Organizing Meetings Student Name: Registration No: Institution: Course Code: Date of Submission: Assessment Activity 2 1. What are ethics? Ethics are good practices that are aimed at benefiting everybody in particular situation and not affecting other people negatively. 2. How can you establish legal and ethical requirements? Ensuring everybody is allowed to participate in a discussion and each person’s contribution is accounted for. Ensuring any decision reached is not aimed at causing harm to another person in the organization but to bring benefits to everybody Assessment Activity 3 Consider a meeting that you have attended. At the time you probably did not think about the requirements of the meeting (or participants). Reflect upon the meeting from an organizer’s point of view. Describe the: Purpose of the meeting: Purpose of the meeting was to discuss progress that had been made by the association and to elect new officials. Meeting structure: meeting was conducted in a conferencing hall that enabled officials of the association to address delegates who had attended the meeting Voting procedures: new Officials were elected using a secret ballot method Number of participants: a total of 120 participants were present during the meeting. These were a mixture of both male and female attendants. Specific resources and equipment required by participants (eg projectors): resources that were used to facilitate exchange of information include projectors, microphones and loudspeakers Telephone or videoconferencing equipment: telephone and videoconferencing equipment were put in place to be used by those who wanted to access the proceedings but did not attend. Teleconferencing or videoconferencing meeting processes: those who were unable to attend the meeting in person could access the proceedings of the meeting through telephone or videoconferencing. Refreshments: the attendants were provided with refreshments such as fresh water and soft drinks Assessment Activity 4 A checklist for a meeting involving the CEO and top executives of the company Before the Conference Yes No The venue is set aside for the conference The Room prepared Furniture and Refreshments available Availability of projectors, a board and a computer During Conference The conference has began at 9.00 am Each executive is allowed to give presentation The presentations are carried out using a projector and a computer The Activities of the meeting end by 12.00 noon Assessment Activity 5 1. In the previous activity you were given a meeting scenario and created a checklist to help organize the meeting. Draft an email to advise the five executives in the scenario of the meetings. Dear sir Cc: Executive 1, Executive 2, executive 3, Executive 4 REF: ADVISE ABOUT THE FORTHCOMING CONFERENCE I would like to inform you that the forthcoming conference will start at 9.00am and the venue will be the conference room of the company. There will be a computer and projectors that will enable you present your views regarding the company’s KPIs. You are assured that your allocated time will be granted and I look forward to welcoming you during the conference. Yours sincerely Marck Vivien Conference organizer 2. You need to change the start of a meeting that is being held tomorrow from 1pm to 2 pm. What methods could you use to notify participants of the changed start time? Use mobile text messages for those who have mobile phones Make phone calls to officials so that they can inform other members Make posters and posting them in common places where members are likely to see them Tell members who I can access physically about the postponement of the meeting Assessment Activity 6 Agenda for the meeting of XYZ Sporting Club XYZ Sports Club AGM Date 27th February, 2015 Time 10.00 am Venue Hall 13 Duration Agenda 1 10.00-10.15 am Apologies 2 10.15-10.30 am Minutes of last meeting 3 Matters arising 4 10.30-11.00 am Resolution of subscriptions for purchase of computers 5 11.00 -11.45 am Election of: Club president Secretary Treasurer Coach Committee members 6 11.45 -11.55am AOB 7 11.55-12.00 noon Setting of time and date of next meting Assessment Activity 7 1. What would you look for when checking or proofing a document? Correct spelling Correct grammar Consistency of fonts Appropriate headings Appropriate font style Consistency of style and organizational requirements Correct use of headers and footers Consistency of columns and tables Correct use of bullets and numbers in text paragraphs Correct inclusion of page numbers and formats of indexes or contents Relevant content 2. Why should you not use a computer spellchecker as the sole method of checking a document? Spellchecker will not capture misspellings that form another valid word. For instance, when you type your instead of you, the spellchecker will not capture the misspell word. Another disadvantage of spellchecker is that it can pick up names and nouns as errors (Kirkpatrick 2006). These checkers compare texts against a limited number of rules, thus do not act as the right method of identification of errors. Assessment Activity 8 Suggest strategies and the most appropriate time frame for informing participants of the following meetings: 1. An AGM A time frame of 1 year in the preceding AGM 2. A meeting of manager to discuss a production change planned for next month A time frame of 2 weeks before implementation of the change in production plan 3. An emergency meeting to discuss an important issue A time frame of 1 day following the emergence of the issue Assessment Activity 9 Why is it a good idea to prepare extra sets of meeting papers? This is because there are a large number of attendants in a meeting and each person may need a copy of the paper in order to understand a point. In some cases, notes may be more than expected and extra sets of papers may be used to write additional minutes of the meeting (Kirkpatrick 2006). Assessment Activity 10 Why is it important to take accurate minutes of a meeting without recording the conversation verbatim? i. This is because the minutes are used to determine those who were present in a meeting and also hold those who were absent from the meeting accountable for their absenteeism ii. Minutes are used for reference purposes. It is possible to understand controversial issues that were discussed in a meeting (Shackleton and Cordes 2011). Through the use of records of meetings, it is possible to refer back to what was discussed so that the progress of the organization as a result of the previous meeting can be understood. iii. Furthermore, the process of recording the minutes of a meeting in an accurate way can be used to communicate to other interested members who were not present during the meeting (Streibel 2003). Those who were not active during the meeting can also use the minutes of the meeting to understand decisions that were made. iv. When minutes of a meeting are recorded, participants become more efficient in what they discuss. Minutes also provided information regarding the person responsible for a particular action. This ensures these actions are carried out by asking the assigned person to perform them. Assessment Activity 11 Provide an example for each of the following items that should be recorded in a minute of a meeting: i. Issues for discussion Change of subscription amount Election of new officials Proposal to start a new project ii. Decisions Members to discuss the right subscription amounts to meet service activities of the club Election date will be communicated to members before election can be done Members will come up with individual proposals after which voting will be done to determine the best proposal iii. Actions The subscription amount agreed upon will be paid on monthly basis All officials will be replaced by new officials immediately after elections The proposal that gets the highest number of votes will be implemented and the club will commence the project iv. Timelines From negotiation to the time of reaching the right subscription rate will be 2 weeks The election of new officials will take place in 1 day The process of selecting the best project to the time of commencement of the project will be 1 month. Assessment Activity 12 List 3 techniques that you could use to check your minutes before distributing them Checking sequencing and structure of the minutes Checking readability, grammar, spelling and sentence and paragraph construction Organizational requirements Assessment Activity 13 Give an example of an appropriate method of circulating minutes in the following circumstances: 1. Minutes of weekly managers meeting in an office environment Posters in each department notice boards 2. Formal and confidential minutes of a Board meeting Verbal communication by board members to their subordinates 3. Minutes of staff social committee for a manufacturing environment Notices on manufacturing department notice boards Summary This booklet focuses mainly on activities that a business operator needs to focus on during meetings. It explains that identification of the needs for a meeting is important and stakeholders must be identified. In addition, it states that it is important to inform participants of the meeting at the right time such as 1 week so that they can prepare for the meeting. It suggests methods that can be used to distribute information to participants such as the use of email and standard post, courier and fax or website. During the process of communicating to the attendants about the meeting, it recommends that the agenda of the meeting should be stated. The booklet also suggests documents that may be needed in the meeting such as financial reports, chairperson’s report and research reports and recommends that these documents should be kept ready before the day of the meeting. The booklet also explains various types of meetings that can be conducted such as teleconferencing, face-to-face meetings, videoconferencing, board meetings, annual general meetings or health and safety meetings. It suggests that there can be a range of reasons for conducting meetings and the organizer of the meeting should be aware of the need for the meetings. The article also suggest that the person responsible for organizing the meeting must determine the venue for the meeting and should set aside facilities that will be used during the meeting. These may include microphones, speakers and overhead projectors. Checking the room layout is also significant during arrangement for a meeting. Another consideration that is suggested when organizing a meeting is that the agenda of the meeting must be clearly stated with all the contents that an agenda should have. It also suggests discussion topics that can be discussed during a meeting. The booklet also suggests that there are documents that are used during a meeting and recommends that it is important to check for wrong spelling, correct grammar, correct punctuation, accurate reading and the right font style before the meeting commences. The booklet also suggests that there are legal and ethical requirements that the meeting should comply with. For instance, it suggests that meetings should be conducted at least every month to discuss health and safety of employees at work place as well as compliance with government regulations that dictate the activities of the business. However, the article suggests that the type of legal and ethical requirements to observe is determined by the nature of the meeting. The booklet also suggests that during production of minutes, the main areas that should be focused on include issues to be discussed, decisions made, actions to be taken and the timeline under which the actions will be taken. It should also state the person responsible for the actions. When minutes have been written down, it suggests that the minutes should be checked for accuracy and then submitted for approval by the responsible person. It is also required that the person who writes the minutes of a meeting understands every word spoken so that he can explain what he wrote down during the meeting. References Kirkpatrick, D. L. 2006. How to conduct productive business meetings: Strategies, tips, and tools to ensure your next meeting is well planned and effective. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Press. Shackleton, F., & Cordes, M. 2011. Shackleton on the law and practice of meetings. London: Sweet & Maxwell. Streibel, B. J. 2003. The manager's guide to effective meetings. New York: McGraw-Hill. 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