[Imc] steering agenda suggestions
Paul Riismandel
p-riism at uiuc.edu
Sun Dec 9 20:59:08 UTC 2001
Today we had a very packed agenda at steering, and so got caught with our
most discussion-intensive item placed at the end of the meeting, which in
turn caused us to go late, lose some discussion participants, and also
inconvenience the news group.
I'd like to suggest something we did in the past when we had a large Sunday
meeting with lots of big policy items on the agenda -- prioritizing agenda
items by time. That is, giving each item an amount of time in the hour.
The point in doing this is to help us see concretely how much actual work
is in front of us for the meeting and use our time wisely. Had we done
that today I think we'd have easily seen the IP discussion as at least a
half-hour discussion, but as it is it ended up being allocated only about 5
minutes within our hour. Having a discussion run the meeting overtime only
heightens any controversy that may be present and increases the sense that
resolution won't be reached. But if we had allocated that half an hour at
the beginning and sensibly allocated other items to fit that it, we would
have left ourselves more time for everyone to participate in the discussion.
Doing this also means that you'll find that some new items won't fit, and
so have to be tabled until another meeting. That's fine and allows you to
take care of the most important items now, without being sidelined by
things that aren't quite as important--they don't need to be resolved *today*.
I'd like us to start doing this next Sunday, since it looks like at least
one controversial item will persist.
Below is the original suggested template I wrote back in May for organizing
steering meetings, which we currently follow in some respects:
Suggested Template for IMC Steering Group Meeting Agendas
By Paul Riismandel, 5/27/01
This is a suggested format for putting together Steering Group meeting
agendas. Agendas for this meeting should be completed before the
meeting. It is best to write them on a white board just before the meeting
so that all participants can see the agenda and follow along with it.
The basic organization of the meeting should be the following:
I. Introductions
This is where participants introduce themselves (if necessary), the agenda
is read and any additions to the agenda are made.
II. Group Reports
This is where each working group gives a very brief activity report. This
time should not be used for lengthy discussions or decision making, however
issues that require discussion or decisions may arise here. Only groups
that have empowered spokes should report here.
III. Old Business
This is where you schedule on-going discussions, or discussions that have
been continued from previous meetings. Also, if an item was introduced as
new business in a previous meeting but not addressed, it becomes old
business for subsequent meetings. It is during 'business' that extended
discussions and decision making should take place.
IV. New Business
This is where the discussion of new issues and items takes
place. Obviously, these are items that have not yet been addressed at the
steering group.
V. Set Next Agenda / Choose facilitator
It's important to clearly set the next agenda and have that recorded in the
notes for the meeting. This way items that weren't addressed fully or new
items that came up are less easily forgotten. Since facilitation is a
revolving duty, a new facilitator should be chosen, if necessary. It's
recommended that facilitator run several meetings in a row so as to gain
some practice and skill.
VI. Announcements
Announcements are left to last since they can easily eat up meeting time
and spark tangents. Announcements should be kept brief.
Time Allotments: When writing an agenda, each major section should have a
suggested time length assigned to it. This length is used as a guide for
keeping the meeting flowing, avoiding getting bogged down in unproductive
discussions, ending the meeting on time, and, most importantly, not wasting
participants' time. The Steering Group meeting lasts one hour, so the
allotments should add up to only one hour.
Time should be allotted according to the importance of an item. Items
needing more discussion and decision making time should be allotted more
time. It's also recommended not to assign group reports more than 15-20
minutes, since this portion of the meeting can easily take up whatever time
it's allowed to.
Please note: Meeting agendas do not need to be complex, and should be
written based upon the actual items people have asked to be discussed. A
facilitator does not need to put in a lot of work making up things to
discuss.
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