Organizing an Effective Meeting - Term Paper Example

Although it’s a tedious task, if a meeting is poorly designed or not conducted well, it can be stressful, boring, and unproductive. The first critical step is getting the right people such as facilitators together. A facilitator, who may be a person from outside the organization or meeting leader, supports the meeting process by keeping the team on course to bring about the desired outcomes as well as helping in planning the agenda of the meeting. After having a facilitator, the following steps can be done in organizing a productive meeting.

This step involves asking oneself the essence of the meeting. Among the major purpose includes visioning, team building, evaluating a program, idea sharing and problem-solving. Meeting objectives should be specific and measurable outputs. Nevertheless, a meeting’s purpose should also shed light on a tangible product such as an organization's strategic plan. Thinking of the right people who will participate in the meeting to accomplish the purpose is crucial. For example, if the meeting requires a certain decision to be passed then the relevant decision-maker should attend the meeting.

Definition of roles of a participant is also important to ensure that all attendees are fully engaged in the objectives of the meeting. Participant size is also important to consider because large numbers of audiences can be difficult to manage if consensus is required. Roles should be established to ascertain what each participant will do, although they can change during the meeting (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 4). Assigning roles in advance will ensure that the meeting will be effective and productive for all.

For example, the facilitator will be the one who contributes the course of engagement of all participants as well as keeping the meeting in the focus of the objectives. Notwithstanding, the meeting planner will be in charge of organizing the logistics of the meeting such as catering and procurement activities. This involves choosing a meeting place that best meets the participant’s demands, the purpose, and the meeting organization. Consideration of member’s size, comfort, the equipment needed, and accessibility is the key aspect of this quest.

While choosing the meeting time, it’s vital to consider the availability of participants, anticipated length of the meeting, and meeting facilities. This provides the focus of the meeting’s framework, putting activities in logical order and timeframe as well as offering a sketch for noting down the summary report at the end of the meeting. Flexibility should be ensured so that all topics are resolved and activities accomplished in the best way possible.  Agenda are crucial because they clarify the meeting’s purpose as well as providing direction and focus during topics discussion.

Contacting all participants periodically before the meeting day is important. The contacts can be as simple as sending a friendly reminder through emails and telephone calls. In the case of frequently planned meetings, it’s wise to select a location and time and never try to change. My choice of choosing both articles on how to organize a productive meeting is based on the rich information they offer on this topic.  They agree that any meeting may follow the aforementioned steps though not in the order they appear in this report.

The information from the sources will help me in planning a productive meeting in the organization I will be in so as to evade the deviant nature of participants in boring and stressful meetings.