Meeting Tips

To do:

• Incorporate the facilitator's duties
• Incorporate example meeting minutes snippets

A week before the meeting

• Facilitator:
  • Make sure you will be able to attend. If not, find someone to facilitate for you.
  • Call for agenda items
• Scribe:
  • Make sure you will be able to attend. If not, find someone to scribe for you.

Before the meeting

• Facilitator:
  • Review the previous meeting's notes
  • Review the agenda
  • Review other relevant things, like the RT queue, email posts, and the wiki

You are looking for agenda items. Organize them into a final agenda, grouping related items together and plugging into the general template

• Scribe:
  • Get a laptop or a paper and pen/pencil for taking notes

The Template

Call the meeting to order

• Facilitator:
  • Just make sure there's a scribe taking attendance

• Scribe:
  • Record the name of the meeting and the date
  • List everyone in attendance (for some meetings, list if they were late). Ask for people's names if you don't know them.

Check in

• Facilitator:
  • Ask how everyone's doing
• Scribe:
  • This usually requires no notes be taken

Committments from Previous Meeting

• Facilitator:
• Go through each item and ask for a brief report.
  • If committments pertain to regluar agenda items, ask that discussion be put off until that item

• Scribe:
  • Record the status of each item
    • Did it change owners?
    • Is it finished?
    • Is it a carryover? (If so, re-enter in the future committments section)

Old Business

• Record item names
  • Key points from discussion
  • Proposals (at least loose wording)
  • Decisions -- Mark them as decisions -- Make sure the wording is accurate

New Business

• Same pints at Old Business

Future Committments

• Record the item, its owner, and a deadline

Next Meeting

• Record scribe
• Record facilitator
• Record reporter (i.e. to Council Meeting or Staff Meeting)
• Record next time and place of meeting