Making the most of meetings

Keeping members once you’ve got them can be a problem, holding successful meetings could be the critical factor in getting them to come back. You might want to try some of these ideas…

Sample Meeting agenda

Introductions 10 mins

  • Go round - get everyone to introduce themselves, why they’re interested and what type of thing they like to do.
  • Go through the meeting agenda (you could stick it up on the wall on some flipchart paper).
  • Get someone to volunteer to take minutes or ‘action points’ of what is decided and who is going to do it.
  • Play an icebreaker

Action points 10 mins

  • Go over action points from the last meeting.
  • Make a note of any that haven’t been done and task someone to follow it up.

Campaigns 20 mins

  • Letter to head on Fairtrade
  • Weekly stalls
  • Concert next term

P&P events 10 mins

  • Planning coming to Shared Planet

Any other business 5 mins

  • Social in next month.

Bring meeting to close 5 mins

  • Go over Action Points and whose responsible.
  • Decide the date of your next meeting.

    End of meeting

Meeting times

1 Find a convenient time for everyone interested. This might be a lunch time.
2 Make sure everyone knows the exact time the meeting starts and ask them to get there 10 minutes before this.
3 Plan your time so that everything is covered and all decisions are taken.
4 Stick to these times, and if necessary agree to meet again about issues that can’t be resolved within the time.

Venue

1 Book the room well in advance. If its in your Sixth Form, ask a teacher.
2 Make sure there will be enough seats.
3 Arrange the seats in a circle with not too many. You can add more if more people than expected show up.
4 Get snacks and drinks if these are necessary to keep people’s energy levels up.

Agenda

1 Work this out in advance if possible.
2 Try and keep it relevant and don’t plan too much.
3 Work out how long each item might take. Be realistic. See the sample agenda on the right for what this might include.

Action

1 Make sure any decisions to do something are recorded.
2 Somebody should volunteer to do each task.
3 Email these action points round after the meeting.
4 Don’t take on too much or you’ll do less in the long run.

Look at the Uni Groups Guide for more ideas on this.

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