In a meeting, two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a (usually) predetermined topic such as business or community event planning, often in a formal setting.

In addition to coming together physically (in real life In an online setting, "real life" refers to life in the real world. It is generally used in reference to life or consensus reality, in contrast to an environment seen as fiction or fantasy, such as the Internet, virtual reality, dreams, novels, or movies. Online, the acronym "IRL" means "in real life", with the, face to face), communication lines and equipment can also be set up to have a discussion between people at different locations, e.g. a conference call A conference call is a telephone call in which the calling party wishes to have more than one called party listen in to the audio portion of the call. The conference calls may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call, or the call may be set up so that the called party merely listens into the call and cannot speak. It is or an e-meeting A videoconference or video conference is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. It has also been called 'visual collaboration' and is a type of groupware.

In organizations An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, controls its own performance, and has a boundary separating it from its environment. The word itself is derived from the Greek word ὄργανον (organon [itself derived from the better-known word ἔργον ergon - work; deed - > ergonomics, etc]) meaning tool, meetings are an important vehicle for personal contact. They are so common and pervasive in organizations, however, that many take them for granted and forget that, unless properly planned and executed, meetings can be a waste of time and resources.

Because of their importance, a career in professional meeting planning has emerged in recent years. In addition, the field of Meeting Facilitation has formalized with an internationally-recognized "Certified Professional Facilitator" designation through the International Association of Facilitators (IAF)

Types of meetings

Meetings may be divided into many categories:

1. Status Meetings, generally Leader-led, which are about reporting by one-way communication;
2. Work Meetings, which produce a product or intangible result such as a decision
3. Staff meeting - typically a meeting between a manager and those that report to the manager (possibly indirectly).
4. Team meeting - a meeting among colleagues working on various aspects of a team project.
5. Ad-hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase which means "for this purpose". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and which cannot be adapted to other purposes meeting - a meeting called together for a special purpose
6. Management meeting - a meeting among managers
7. Board meeting - a meeting of the Board of directors A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. The body sometimes has a different name, such as board of trustees, board of governors, board of managers, or executive board. It is often simply referred to as "the board." of an organization
8. One-on-one meeting - a meeting between two individuals
9. Off-site meeting - also called "offsite retreat" and known as an Awayday The intention is to allow the meeting to focus on the particular task at hand without the participants being distracted by the demands which, if the meeting were held in the workplace, would normally be made on their attention by virtue of their positions meeting in the UK
10. Kickoff meeting The Kick-off Meeting is the first meeting with the project team and the client of the project. This meeting would follow definition of the base elements for the project and other project planning activities. This meeting introduces the members of the project team and the client and provides the opportunity to discuss the role of each team member - is the first meeting with the project team and the client of the project to discuss the role of each team member
11. Pre-Bid Meeting - is a meeting of various competitors and or contractors to visually inspect a jobsite for a future project. The meeting is normally hosted by the future customer or engineer who wrote the project specification to ensure all bidders are aware of the details and services expected of them. Attendance at the Pre-Bid Meeting may be mandatory. Failure to attend usually results in a rejected bid

Meeting frequency options

Since a meeting can be held once or often, the meeting organizer has to determine the repetition and frequency of occurrence of the meeting. Options generally include the following:

• A one-time meeting is the most common meeting type and covers events that are self-contained. While they may repeat often, the individual meeting is the entirety of the event. This can include a 2006 conference. The 2007 version of the conference is a stand-alone meeting event.
• A recurring meeting is a meeting that recurs periodically, such as an every Monday staff meeting from 9:00AM to 9:30 AM. The meeting organizer wants the participants to be at the meeting on a constant and repetitive basis. A recurring meeting can be ongoing, such as a weekly team meeting, or have an end date, such as a 5 week training meeting, held every Friday afternoon.
• A series meeting is like a recurring meeting, but the details differ from meeting to meeting. One example of a series meeting is a monthly "lunch and learn" event at a company, church, club or organization. The placeholder is the same, but the agenda and topics to be covered vary. This is more of a recurring meeting with the details to be determined.

Scheduling Meetings

The traditional method of scheduling meetings is by phone or email. The meeting organizer will either manage the scheduling themselves, or delegate to an admin assistant.

However, there are also a variety of web scheduling services that facilitate the process by allowing the proposing of multiple times, managing scheduling conflicts, and automatically adjusting for time zones.

Meeting Roles

Meeting roles and responsibilities should be assigned before or after the meeting begins. Assigning these roles will help keep the meeting focused, on-time, recorded, and orderly. Not every meeting must have this strict assignment list of roles. For example, small and uncomplicated meetings may have one person that is both the leader and facilitator. But if the meeting structure allows, having a separate leader and facilitator will allow the leader to focus on the content and the facilitator to look after the orderly process of the meeting. The roles are:

• Leader Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith of Genentech states that, "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to
• Facilitator A facilitator is someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in the discussion. The facilitator will try to assist the group in achieving a consensus on any disagreements that preexist or emerge in the meeting so that it has a strong basis for
• Note taker or Scribe
• Timekeeper A timekeeper is an instrument or person that measures the passage of time; in the case of the latter, often with the assistance of a clock or stopwatch. In addition, the timekeeper records time, time taken, or time remaining during events such as sports matches

In assigning meeting roles, you need to be sensitive to diversity issues and the strengths and weaknesses of the members. You do not want to stereotype attendees into gender roles. These roles should not be minimized because they are important in helping a meeting progress smoothly towards its objectives^[1].

See also

• Action item In Management, an action item is a documented event, task, activity, or action that needs to take place. Action items are discrete units that can be handled by a single person
• BarCamp BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences - open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants. The first BarCamps focused on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats. The format has also been used for a variety of other topics,
• Agenda An agenda is a list of meeting activities in the order in which they are to be taken up, beginning with the call to order and ending with adjournment. It usually includes one or more specific items of business to be considered. It may, but is not required to, include specific times for one or more activities. An agenda may also be called a docket
• conference room A conference hall or conference room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences. It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even hospitals, have one. Sometimes, other rooms are modified for large conferences such as arenas or concert halls. Aircraft have been
• Event Planning and Production Event planning is the process of planning a festival, ceremony, competition, party, or convention
• International Congress Calendar The International Congress Calendar is a calendar published since 1960 by the Union of International Associations . Previously published as a printed quarterly publication, since 2004 provided online here
• Meeting system A meeting system is any systemic means of improving meetings, workshops or conferences. They are particularly important in consensus decision making and deliberative democracy, but they have always been recognized as important to judicial procedure and parliamentary procedure, down to the level of the town meeting or below
• Minutes Minutes, also known as protocols, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They often give an overview of the structure of the meeting, starting with a list of those present, a statement of the various issues before the participants, and each of their responses thereto. They are often created at the moment of the hearing by a typist
• Official trip Business trips have to be approved by the employer, who usually meets the costs. The traveling expenses can be calculated in detail or by a lump sum, depending on the average expense of the travel country
• Organizational development Organization development is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Warren Bennis, has referred to OD as a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organization so that they can better adapt to new technologies,
• Quaker The roots of this movement lie in 17th century Christian English dissenters, but the movement has since branched out into many independent national and regional organizations, often called Yearly Meetings, which have a variety of names, beliefs and practices. It is therefore difficult to accurately describe the beliefs and practices of the meeting for worship
• Scientific meeting An academic conference is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers
• Task list Time management refers to a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially
• Meeting point This is common at public places such as amusement parks, railway stations, airports, etc. Also, it is a point to let people gather at a designated place during an emergency (see pictogram)
• Facilitation

References

1. ^ D. Barrett, (2008). Leadership Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Categories: Meetings Categories: Organizational studies and human resource management | Organized events | Social events | Human communication | Group processes | Management Categories: Business | Business economics | Applied sciences | Accountability | Organizational studies and human resource management Categories: Organizations | Management | Social psychology

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