The following are some tips to help you make your next coordination or sector meeting successful, effective and maybe even enjoyable.

Prior to the Meeting

1. Define the purpose of the meeting.

2. Develop an agenda in cooperation with key participants.

3. Distribute the agenda and circulate background material, lengthy documents or articles prior to the meeting so participants will be prepared and feel involved and up-to-date.

4. Choose an appropriate meeting time. Set a time limit and stick to it, if possible. Remember, participants have other commitments. They will be more likely to attend meetings if you make them productive, predictable and as short as possible.

During The Meeting

1. Greet participants and make them feel welcome, even late participants when appropriate.

2. If possible, serve light refreshments; they are good icebreakers and make your participants feel comfortable.

3. Start on time. End on time.

4. Review the agenda and set priorities for the meeting.

5. Stick to the agenda!

6. Encourage group discussion to get all points of view and ideas. You will have better quality decisions as well as highly motivated participants; they will feel that attending meetings is worth their while.

7. Encourage feedback. Ideas, activities and commitment to a coordinated response will improve when participants see their impact on the decision making process.

8. Keep conversation focused on the topic. Feel free to ask for only constructive and non- repetitive comments. Tactfully end discussions when they are getting nowhere or becoming destructive or unproductive.

9. Summarize agreements reached and end the meeting on a unifying or positive note.

10. Make minutes of the meeting publicly available. This leads to increased transparency and accountability in the response.

11. Set a date, time and place for the next meeting. Regular meetings should have a fixed date and time.

After The Meeting

1. Write up and distribute minutes within 3 or 4 days. Quick action reinforces importance of meeting and reduces errors of memory.

2. Discuss any problems during the meeting with other participants; come up with ways improvements can be made.

3. Follow-up on delegation decisions. See that all participants understand and carry-out their responsibilities.

4. Give recognition and appreciation to excellent and timely progress.

5. Put unfinished business on the agenda for the next meeting.

6. Conduct a periodic evaluation of the meetings. Note any areas that can be analyzed and improved for more productive meetings.

And remember, effective meetings will keep them coming back!

Source: http://www.meetingwizard.org