Importance of a well structured meeting

Hi all,


Every Tuesday at 12pm there is a staff meeting at ERISJ. To my surprise, meeting starts with a soup for all to share which makes the meeting hit-on in a less formal note. I thought that is a brilliant idea. I was invited to attend the meeting and enjoy the delicious soup as well. So there we all are…chatting away about life, social issues, and cultures while eating soup. Some staff members where trying to push their business agenda but had no feedback regards to that -obviously the meeting has not started yet. We have all finished eating, so I was wandering at which point this meeting actually starts. David, the director of ERISJ, has attempted few times to address everyone in a more formal tone to announce that the meeting is actually starting but some have not acknowledged that and continued talking. I could see that David started to feel uncomfortable. He then started by introducing myself to all the staff, which I was very pleased about, and with that- he has got everyone’s attention.

He was going through the things (or shell I say agenda which was not written anywhere) that we need to discuss at this meeting in a very informal and friendly way. Some staff members were not pleased that few important matters are going to be left out which diverged the meeting in a complete different discussion. Most of the staff had their say in what is and what is not a priority of being discussed at this meeting. Then the issue of what happened at the last meeting came up…It seemed like nobody really known what came out from the last meeting. It all became a huge discussion, not a bad one, just one of those… chatting moments. I have quietly asked my supervisor Kate: isn’t there someone taking down the minutes? To which she replied that admin girl usually does but this duty is not really formally designated to her.

Throughout the meeting there were no structure, no control, and no guidance. Staff members where getting bored and were drifting away into la-la land while someone would talk regarding something that didn’t involve their department of work. Minutes were not recorded and there was no real conclusion or call for action once the meeting has finished. And the whole finilising of the meeting was not quite clear as well. Some staff members where excusing themselves from the meeting while collecting their soup bowls from the table and some were talking amongst each other still regarding business matter. Even though I was introduced at the meeting I had no idea the names, roles and duties of all of the staff at the meeting. I kind of learned it along the way.

I must admit I enjoyed every minute of this meeting. I learned a lot about the organization and every individual attending this meeting by just watching and listening. The meeting was a good insight (like a preview for a movie) into how to communicate and interact with them in the future. This is very important as these are the people I will spend almost every day for a while. It helps to know these things in order to create and build those important PR relationships.