Meeting Basics/Introduction

If you participate in a sports team, play music in a group, organize a group of neighbors to convince local government to plant a tree in your street or work with colleagues in a project, in all these situations you will have to make decisions together, inform each other and distribute the work to be done. To do these things you will have to get together from time to time and have a meeting. This booklet describes a structure you can give to your meetings.

If you have to meet with more than twenty-five people the structures described in this booklet become impractical and might lead to fruitless meetings without end. For such meetings it is better to borrow ideas from regulations as they are used for member participation in parliaments and large societies. If you meet with two or three people, probably no formal structure will be needed. If you meet with four to twenty people and the task is complicated or will span a significant amount of time, having a meeting as described in this booklet is probably a good option and this booklet is written for you.

Tip

In your opening meeting if you run a brainstorming session (maybe on a whiteboard) and ask people what they want from a good meeting, you inevitably get a list reflecting your objectives but you've created much greater buy-in from your team. Buying early makes the whole process easier.