This presentation is focused on describing critical elements to host a perfect meeting.

1. The Perfect
Meeting
Leigh Austin
EEX 6524
Organization and
Collaboration in Special
Education

2. The Perfect Meeting
 The
Perfect Meeting in my department
includes key stakeholders who are valued
for their knowledge, expertise and role
they serve in supporting student needs.
 The meeting is engaging with an intense
focus on the purpose and desired
outcomes. Laughter and camaraderie
can be detected by those passing by the
meeting room.

3. The Perfect Meeting
 To
honor the time commitment of each
meeting member, the meeting begins
and ends on time with friendly guidance
to keep the attentions aligned to the
purpose of the meeting.
 The meeting ends with a review of agreed
upon action items and those responsible
for moving the action items forward.

4. Planning The Perfect Meeting
1. Specific purpose for meeting that can
only be accomplished by meeting
“… meetings should be planned only if
they can contribute significantly to
serving student needs”
(Dettmer, Knackendoffel, &
Thurston, 2013, p. 162).

5. Planning The Perfect Meeting
2. Identify essential meeting members


Experts to advise or instruct the group
Number of invited members based on purpose of
meeting
“The group should be as small possible, adhering to the
principle concerning meetings that the more who are
involved, the shorter it should be”
(Dettmer, Knackendoffel, & Thurston, 2013, p. 162).
 Problem-solving – no more than 5 people
 Problem identification – approximately 10 people
 Listening to presentation – up to 30 people
 Motivation- as many people as possible

6. Planning The Perfect Meeting
3. Determine need to meet face-to-face, virtually, or
blended
4. Request for agenda items
5. Circulate agenda with begin and end times prior
to meeting
 Plan for streamlined meeting with active
participation from those at the meeting
 “With an agenda distributed beforehand and a
stop-time given, participants will be more
productive and less apprehensive” (Dettmer,
Knackendoffel, & Thurston, 2013, p. 163).

7. Planning The Perfect Meeting
6. Assemble documents that needed reviewed at
the meeting
7. Distribute documents that can be reviewed prior
to the meeting with request to review

8. During The Perfect Meeting
1. Introduce team members including the essential
role and expertise they bring to the team
2. Review the agenda including the purpose of the
meeting
3. Set and gain agreement of norms for interactions
during the meeting
 Active listening- free of judgment or intimidation
 Active engagement from all attending the
meeting – each person has a voice at the
meeting
 Parking lot for discussions or questions that are
important for further discussion at a later time

9. During The Perfect Meeting
4. Request volunteers for specific functions to be
accomplished during the meeting e.g. time
keeper, scribe, leaders of each added agenda
items, etc.
5. Begin and end meeting as scheduled

10. During The Perfect Meeting
6. Meeting notes are projected for meeting
members to view and contribute to the
discussion.
7. At the end of the meeting , the scribe reviews the
action items with person responsible identified as
well as agreed upon outcomes of the meeting

11. Following The Perfect Meeting
1. Meeting notes are distributed to all invited
members to the meeting with a request to note
any corrections to the meeting notes within the
following 2 days.
2. Those not in attendance are responsible for
discussing the meeting outcomes with a member
that was in attendance.

12. Reference
Dettmer, P., Knackendoffel, A., & Thurston, L. (2013).
Collaboration, consultation and teamwork for
students with special needs (7th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.