Planning Project Meetings

Are there different kinds of meetings and how do I plan for them?

Different types of project meetings

·      As a project manager

·         You will hold many meetings

·         Or attend them

·      In terms of structure

·         There are only two basic kinds of project meetings

·         Information sharing

·         Problem solving

·      What is a project meeting?

·         An exchange between two or more people

·         Formalized by a prior agenda

·         And the issue of notes or minutes of meeting

·         This Issacon deals with information sharing

Information sharing

Information sharing meetings include

·         Management presentations

·         Client presentations

·         Project startup meeting

·         And similar workshops

·         Team orientation

·         With who will do what?

·         New information

·         And what to do about it?

·         Progress and status reporting

·         And agreement on next steps?

·         Emergency action

Content

·      In all project information-sharing meetings

·         Information is being given, taken or exchanged

·         With a view to reaching a collective decision

·      There may, however, be secondary purposes

·         To get new team members to know each other

·         Establish lines of communication

·         Develop working relationships

·         Encourage or reinforce project team building

Meeting preparation - 1

Check your productivity criteria

·         Is a meeting the most cost-effective way to achieve that information exchange

·         Having regard to the cost of everyone's time?

·         Pure status reporting at a meeting

·         Is not cost-effective

·         What would happen if you didn't hold the meeting at all?

Meeting preparation - 2

·         Should you hold different "levels" of meeting

·         To better utilize the time of senior staff?

·         Do you have a clear objective for the meeting?

·         I.e. what information needs to be made known?

·         Are you satisfied that the meeting can and will be productive?

·         And not just another "chat group"!

Personal preparation

Give thought to your own preparation

·         Have you prepared yourself adequately

·         With facts and answers to possible questions?

·         How will you present your data?

·         If you plan to use visual aids, are these ready?

·         And is the meeting room suited and set up for them?

·         How will you recognize and encourage those who have done well?

·         How will you handle criticism?

·         Or factional infighting?

Meeting Attendance

Who attends has a big influence on the outcome

·         Have you identified who should attend?

·         If attendance is selective, who else should know about the meeting?

·         For those attending, has sufficient advanced notice been given?

·         Have you taken steps to ensure that everyone who should attend

·         Can and will attend?!

Meeting Content

Set the stage

·         Have you prepared an agenda - with time slots?

·         And distributed it well in advance?

·         So that others may prepare

·         And know who else will be reporting or presenting

·         Has adequate supporting material been prepared?

·         And distributed sufficiently in advance

·         For people to read and understand it?

·         For those expected to give progress reports

·         Do they know to make it short and sharp?

·         Could they be embarrassed by others present?

·         Especially by the presence of more senior staff?

Suggested standard agenda

Typical project meeting agendas should include the following

·         State the purpose of the meeting

·         Define any known problems

·         That can be resolved at this meeting

·         Collect and present the available facts

·         Agree on criteria for solution

·         Explore alternative solutions

·         Including testing the alternatives against the criteria

·         And refining the selected solution

·         Document and publish the problem and action expected

Meeting Design

Strategies and fallback

·         Will there be latitude for discussion and contrary opinions?

·         If the details of an issue become too intricate, are you ready to set up a sub-group to resolve it?

·         Is any confidential material likely to be exposed?

·         If so, how will that be handled?

·         Has sufficient time been allowed for questions?

·         Have you considered that not everything will come to light?

·         Due to communication blockers such as: personal shyness; diffidence; jealousy; rivalry or humiliation

·         If so, how will you relieve the blockage?

Meeting record

Capture the results

·         Do you have a clear idea of what you want out of the meeting?

·         How will the findings of the meeting be recorded?

·         Who will be responsible for doing so?

·         And who will be on the distribution list to receive copies of the transactions?

·         How will the minutes be distributed?

·         And when?