Team Meeting 
Guide 

A challenge to project teams is having effective meetings where discussion takes place, all perspectives are respected, and you leave the meeting with a sense that you've made progress toward the project goals. Listed below are some suggestions to accomplish this.

The first meeting

  1. Get acquainted.
  2. Review these "Managing Meetings" suggestions and discuss how you'll handle meetings.
  3. Elect a leader and a recorder. Your group can decide whether to rotate leadership among members.
  4. Clarify the project.
  5. Consider how you'll provide leadership for the various phases of the project.
  6. Elect a time keeper to keep the meeting on track and on time.

Planning your meetings

  1. Set regular meeting times (weekly, twice weekly, etc.) and make every effort to meet during this time block. You can always cancel a meeting if the meeting is not needed.
  2. Set a beginning AND an ending time for your meetings.
  3. Prior to or at the beginning of the meeting, determine how much time to spend on each agenda topic. Prioritize what MUST be done at the meeting and determine what topics are of lesser priority. Lesser priority topics can be held for the next meeting if necessary.

Preparing for meetings

  1. Prior to each meeting each team member should complete tasks assigned at previous meetings.
  2. Prior to each meeting, the recorder, in coordination with the leader, should send the agenda, decided upon at the previous meeting, to team members (via e-mail or posting to the web).

Running a meeting

  1. Start (and end) the meeting on time.
  2. Stick to the agenda (as much as is reasonable). The time keeper is responsible for keeping the meeting on time and on track.
  3. Use brainstorming techniques for creative sessions.
  4. Attack problems, not the people in the group. Try to reach consensus. Give a little, take a little!
  5. Divide up the tasks. Take turns doing various tasks. See Team Meeting Guide .

Transition to next meeting

  1. During the meeting record the decisions, deadlines, assignments. See "Action Plan." 
  2. At the end of each meeting:
    3. a. Review the decisions and deadlines
    b. Make certain all team members know their responsibilities
    c. Evaluate your meeting processes, how your group worked together, and suggest changes for improvement of group processes.