The document discusses planning and conducting effective meetings. It notes that meetings cost businesses billions annually and outlines types of meetings. When planning a problem-solving meeting, the document recommends determining if a meeting is necessary, setting an agenda with goals and participants, and providing background. Key points for conducting a meeting include beginning by stating goals, using parliamentary procedure or other techniques to encourage participation, keeping discussions on track, maintaining a positive tone, and following up on assignments.

1. Communicating at Work
Ronald Adler
Santa Barbara City College
Jeanne Elmhorst
Albuquerque TVI Community College

2. Chapter 9
Effective Meetings
Chapter Outline
• Types of Meetings
• Planning a Problem-Solving Meeting
• Conducting the Meeting
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3. Effective Meetings
• Of 90,000 working days, 46% of the time
was spent in meetings
• 20,000,000 business meetings each day in
the U.S.
• Unproductive meetings cost U.S.
businesses $37,000,000,000 annually
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4. Effective Meetings
Table 9-1: Hourly Costs of Meetings
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5. Effective Meetings
Table 9-2: Meetings in Corporate America
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6. Types of Meetings
• Information-sharing
– Beginning-of-shift
– Weekly-update
• Problem-solving or Decision-making
– Most common reason for a business meeting
• Ritual Activities
– Example: TGIF gatherings
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7. Types of Meetings
• Virtual
– Teleconferences
– Videoconferences
– Online meetings
– Advantages include:
• Less expensive • Easier to schedule
• Take less time • Allows more people to attend
• Less personal
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8. Planning a Problem-Solving Meeting
• When to Hold a Meeting
? Is the job beyond the capacity of one person
? Are individuals’ tasks interdependent
? Is there more than one decision or solution
? Are misunderstandings or reservations likely
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9. Planning a Problem-Solving Meeting
• Setting an Agenda
– An agenda is a list of topics to be covered in
a meeting
– Three questions:
1. What do we need to do to achieve our objective?
2. What conversations will be important to the people
that attend?
3. What information will we need to bring?
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10. Planning a Problem-Solving Meeting
Components of a Complete
Agenda
 Time
 Length
 Location
 Participants
 Background Information
 Items and Goals
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11. Planning a Problem-Solving Meeting
Figure 9-1: Format for a Comprehensive Agenda
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12. Conducting the Meeting
• Beginning the Meeting
– Identify the goals of the meeting
– Provide background info
– Show how the group can help
– Preview the meeting
– Identify time constraints
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13. Conducting the Meeting
• Conducting Business
– Business meeting checklist
– Parliamentary Procedure
– Encouraging participation
– Keeping discussions on track
– Keeping a positive tone
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14. Business Meeting Checklist
Table 9-4: Checklist for Conducting a Meeting
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15. Conducting Business
• Parliamentary Procedure
– A set of rules for conducting a meeting and
making decisions
– Suitable when:
• a group’s decisions will be of interest to an
external audience
• haste may obscure critical thinking
• emotions are likely to be strong
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16. Conducting Business
• Parliamentary Procedure
– Order of Business
• Reading of the minutes
• Reports
• Unfinished business
• New business
– Motions – specific proposals for action
• Address a single issue
• Must be seconded to be discussed
• Discussion
• Public vote
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17. Conducting Business
• Encouraging participation
– Member differences lead to unequal access
during a meeting
– Use the Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
– Give each member a turn to speak
– Use questions
• Overhead • Direct • Reverse • Relay
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18. Conducting Business
Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
Phase 1: Each member writes ideas down on paper;
leader collects papers
Phase 2: All ideas are posted for all members to see
Phase 3: Members discuss ideas for understanding,
but no criticism is allowed
Phase 4: Members rank the ideas privately
Phase 5: Group discusses highest-ranking ideas
critically and thoroughly
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19. Conducting Business
• Keeping discussions on track
– Remind group of time pressures
– Summarize and redirect
– Challenge relevancy
– Put off good, but irrelevant ideas
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20. Conducting Business
• Keeping a positive tone
– Clarify by asking questions and paraphrasing
– Enhance others’ comments
– Be culturally aware
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21. Conducting the Meeting
• Concluding the Meeting
– Close a meeting when…
…the scheduled closing time has arrived
…the group lacks resources to continue
…the agenda has been covered
– Close a meeting by…
…signaling when time is almost up
…summarizing the meeting’s accomplishments and
future actions
…thanking the group
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22. Conducting the Meeting
• Following Up the Meeting
– Build an agenda for the next meeting
– Follow up on other members
– Take care of your own assignments
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