Organizing a Meeting

Have you ever noticed how stressed some people get about organizing a meeting? For some reason, when many people hear that they are in charge of an upcoming meeting, panic shortly ensues. Organizing a meeting doesn't need to be all that difficult, or anywhere near as panic inducing as most make it out to be. If you find yourself in charge of an upcoming meeting, instead of panicking, use these guidelines to make sure you have the meeting organized the right way. As you go through the guidelines, you will notice that the vast majority of them are really nothing more than common sense.

• Who needs to be there? Make a list of who all needs to be at your meeting, as well as any assistants that they may have. Begin making this list a couple of weeks (if possible) before your meeting. This will allow you enough time to ensure that everyone who needs to be at the meeting will be, as well as allowing you to reschedule the meeting if the key people cannot be there.
• What is going to be discussed in the meeting? When you have meetings, there usually needs to be some kind of a reason for it. Decide what the main topic of the meeting is going to be about, and what each person will contribute to the meeting. Anyone that will be contributing to the meeting, needs to know what they are responsible for as soon as possible so that they can prepare.
• When will the meeting be held? Pick a date a couple of weeks out, and choose that as your tentative meeting time. This will allow you enough time to get in contact with everyone involved, and let them clear their schedules. In the event that the main people are unable to attend at that time, this will also allow you to choose another time for your meeting.
• Where will the meeting be held? When looking at where you are going to be having your meeting, decide on a place that is going to be mutually acceptable to everyone involved. Pick a location that will have the resources, room, and atmosphere that you are looking for in your meeting, and then reserve it for your meeting time.
• Confirm with everyone (and their assistant). Once you have all of the other major factors worked out, confirm with everyone that they will be attending. Do not just confirm with the main people who are attending the meeting, but also their assistants. This will work as a safety redundancy, and limit the possibility of a miscommunication.