PLANNING CORPORATE MEETINGS

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PLANNING CORPORATE MEETINGS

Planning Meetings

When planning corporate meetings, why not use a Meetings Checklist to plan your corporate meetings. For Personal Assistants, organising meetings is like a constantly revolving door - it's easy to forget small details - and as you know, it's the little things that get you every time. Use the meeting planning checklist to decide key action dates. Then insert them in your calendar and set reminders to keep everything on track. Download the Meetings Checklist here.

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Compiling an Agenda

Meeting agendas are necessary to structure meetings and provide a logical order to the discussion. When planning corporate meetings, it's important to prepare and despatch the agenda (and meeting papers) well before the meeting, to give participants time to prepare. At the end of the meeting, set a deadline for receipt of agenda items. See example of a Meeting Agenda.

Minute Taking Tips

Time spent preparing for minute taking is time well spent. Preparing a template with pre-prepared titles and sections will save time when notetaking. It also helps if you skim the meeting papers to get a sense of the issues to be discussed, so that you can ask questions before the meeting if you are unsure of anything. One of the main elements of planning corporate meetings is minute taking. The rules of minute taking are no longer set in stone but, for clarity, there are some points that should be observed. If you are unsure about what to write under each section of the minutes, check out the article on writing up minutes. It explains things like when to use the heading "Attended" as opposed to the heading "Present". Click here for more minute taking tips.

How to Plan Effective Meetings

Meetings can be a drain on resources, both in terms of time and money. Personal Assistants are in a position to optimize meetings by looking for ways to save time and money. Opting for videoconferencing, and using timed agendas are two possible ways to make meetings more effective. More on planning effective meetings.

Virtual Meetings

Virtual meetings are an excellent alternative to face to face meetings; they save time and reduce travel expenses. The versatility of a NetMeeting makes it a good alternative to conventional videoconferencing, with many added benefits like the use of an interactive whiteboard facility. More on Virtual NetMeetings

Boost Your Staff Meetings

If you are looking for ways to spice up your staff meetings, why not add some team building exercises. Alternatively, you could change the location of the meeting, or order in some great pastries. Make your staff meetings something to look forward to.

More on how to boost your staff meetings.

Get More Tips for Effective Meetings

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CORPORATE MEETINGS CHECKLIST

1) Book meeting room

2) Note list of key attendees

3) Send out notice of the meeting outlining the purpose and desired outcome.

4) Solicit agenda items and papers for the meeting.

5) Submit a tasklist along with minutes of the previous meeting and ask those assigned tasks at the previous meeting to indicate the status of those tasks.

6) Submit a draft agenda to Chairperson for approval.

7) Make sure that the key players can attend the meeting.

8) Despatch final agenda and meeting papers to attendees – allow sufficient time for the papers to be read and digested.

9) Skim the papers if you are going to minute the meeting - make sure you understand the key issues.

10) Make sure that you know what style of minutes is required.

11) Book refreshments

12) Book lunch if the timing of the meeting runs over into lunchtime; find out if there are any special dietary requirements.

13) Book overhead projector/PC Projector/flipchart.

14) Book a technician if you are not familiar with the equipment.

15) Notify reception and provide the names of external attendees.

16) Organise parking for external attendees.

17) If organising parking, remember to get car registration number, make, model and colour.

18) Email a map and directions to external attendees.

19) Printout a list of people who have declined the meeting and double check that key players are still attending.

20) List apologies and note the reason for the apology.

21) Take spare copies of minutes, agenda, papers, and take along the list of apologies.

22) Before the meeting, make sure the meeting room is in order.

23) Provide a supply of pens, pencils and paper.

24) After the meeting type up the minutes promptly.

25) Submit draft minutes for approval.

26) Send out final minutes – make sure the time and location of the next meeting is included in the final minutes.

27) Put the date of the next meeting in the diary and book a meeting room.

Download Corporate Meetings Planning Checklist

ADVENTURE TEAM BUILDING FOR SUCCESS

Adventure team building is a great way to offer a change of pace to your team. It provides an opportunity for the team to learn new skills and helps teams to bond quickly. It can revitalise and motivate a flagging or disparate team through activities like archery, rock climbing, kayaking, rock climbing, sailing, horse riding, camping, barbeques and more.

For the best results choose the activity that best reflects your company's core values. Adventure team building activities are essentially corporate events but with outdoor activities and adventures. They are held in parks, convention centres and resorts, to name a few possible venues. Activities can last for a few days or for a few hours, and depending on the activity, can accommodate up to 500 people.

Successful adventure team building improves communication and leadership skills, and encourages problem-solving and decision making. Adventure team building companies can adapt their programmes to suit the needs of your company, in order to develop specific skills in the team.

Not all adventure team building is geared to improving employee skills. Sometimes this type of team building is offered to employees as a reward for hard work, or for reaching a goal; therefore, it's also a great way to celebrate success. In this way, adventure team building is used to boost future team performance and ensure continued success. The bottom line is, adventure team building is a great solution for improving team morale.

Team Building Exercises

MEETINGS AIDS

The SmartBoard Interactive Whiteboard
A great helpmate for PA's. It allows you to organise, create, and save notes written on the whiteboard. This information can be directly uploaded into SMART Board software. The editable screen shots can be saved as PowerPoint, Word, Excel, or AutoCAD. More on Interactive Whiteboard.

A Digital Smartpen Really is a Minute Takers Dream
Use the Livescribe Pulse to digitally record your meetings and accurately play them back. Upload them to your PC and share them with anyone - you will never miss a word. More on Livescribe Pulse Digital Smartpen.

Effortless Recording With a Digital Voice Recorder
A digital voice recorder is ideal for recording meetings, conferences and the like. With no tapes to change and over 200 hours of recording time, this is a great product to have in your time-saving arsenal. More on Digital Recorders.

Read This Before Purchasing a PC Projector
Personal Assistants usually know a lot more about the office photocopier than the PC projector. Not all projectors are made equal and price is not necessarily a good indicator of the type of projector that is right for your business. More on PC Projectors.

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