Business Communication - Agenda and minutes of meetings

1. Meetings
Efforts by:
Vibhor agarwal

2. Meetings
• Meetings are very common in organizations.
• They serve as channels of oral communication
among the members of the meeting.
• They are supported by written communication
like notices to bring people together, agenda
to structure the meeting, minutes to record
the proceedings and reports to pass the
information to the higher authorities.

3. Meetings
• A meeting is get-together of a group of
persons to discuss ways and means to deal
with a specific time-bound task assigned.
• The members of the group share common
experience, common concern and common
interests.
• Unless there is clarity in the purpose, the
meetings may turn out to be a frustrating and
wasteful effort.

4. Why are Meetings Held
• To convey information to the members.
• To gather information from the members.
• To exchange ideas and experiences among the
members.
• To brief members on plans, working and
performance and to instruct members.
• To discuss problems and issues of common
interest.

5. Why are Meetings Held
• To persuade members to accept changes.
• To resolve conflicts and confusions.
• To take decisions of matters affecting the
group or the organization.
• To generate a positive attitude among the
participants.

6. Procedure of Convening a Meeting
• The chairman of the group usually convenes
the meeting.
• However, any other member authorized by
him or her may also convene the meeting.

7. Procedure of Convening a Meeting
• Whosoever calls the meeting should keep in
mind that the announcement of the meeting
must be made in the form of a notice
mentioning the date, time and venue in
writing and sent to all members along with
the well-defined agenda.

8. Proper Notice
• A proper notice of the meeting should be
given to every member entitled to attend.
• The notice should be in writing and must be
given before the specified number of days
from the date of the meeting.
• The notice must specify the date, time and
place of the meeting and the nature of
business to be transacted therein.

9. Proper Notice
• The notice must also state that members are
allowed to appoint proxies (authorization
given to deputy) or send representatives.

10. Minutes of the Meeting (Recording)
 By minutes we mean a concise and accurate
official record of the decisions taken at the
meeting.
 After the meeting, the facilitator must
complete all the tasks of getting the meeting
minutes written and distributed as soon as
possible, sending copies, information and
reports to concerned and affected persons.

11. The Function of Minutes
 to confirm decisions
 Record agreed actions
 record responsibilities
 record date by which an action is to be
completed.
 inform those who did not attend the meeting
Inform other affected and concerned persons
about outcomes
Serve as a record of the meeting’s discussion.

12. Minutes of the Minutes
 Most meetings do not need detailed discussion
to be recorded.
The focus is on three categories of information—
decisions reached, action items that are to be
followed up (indicating who is assigned the task
and the deadline) and open issues.
This record becomes the starting point of the
next meeting and also a reference for future
meetings.

13. Contents of Minutes
• The kind of meeting with date, time and place.
• The name of the person in chair, and the
name of directors, secretary persons in
attendance in board meeting and the number
of members in general meeting.
• The names or numbers of absentees.
• A brief subject heading of each minute with
the resolution adopted.

14. Contents of Minutes
• Minutes should be entered in the book
specially kept for the purpose.
• The minutes must be recorded in point forms,
each minute being separated from the other
by the number and appropriate heading.

15. Essential Part of Minutes
• Name of chairman of the meeting, names of
members present (list is attached) if there are
many names.
• Signature of chairman.

16. Essential Part of Minutes
• Minutes of the meeting of the Board of
Directors of Sadguru Trading Corporation, Ltd.,
held at the Registered office on March 12,
2012, at 4:00 P.M.
• The following members were present:
• Mr. ABC, Chairman and Director
• Mr. XYZ, Director
• Mr. GHI, Director
• Mr. JKL, Director

17. Essential Part of Minutes
• In attendance:
• Mr. LMN, Secretary
• Mr. PQR, Solicitor
• Mr. MNO and Mr. RST had intimated their
inability to attend, and were granted leave of
absence.

18. Essential Part of Minutes
• Names of persons “in attendance”, i.e., any
invited officials like the auditor, the solicitor,
who are not members of the meeting.
• Names of persons who are not present.

19. Principles of Recording Minutes
Brevity
• A minute is a selective, not verbatim record.

20. Clarity
• Clarity is essential for good communication.
• Those who were not present should be able to
understand what happened at the meeting
from reading the minutes.
• All references should be specific, relevant and
accurate.

21. Decisiveness
• Decisions/ resolutions should be conveyed
clearly.
• The language of actual resolution or decision
should be reproduced.

22. Immediate Recording
• The minutes should be written as soon as
possible after the meeting.

23. Agenda
• Agenda is a list of items to be discussed at the
meeting.
• It is usually sent with the notice of the
meeting, but it may be sent later if it takes
time to prepare it.

24. Agenda
• An agenda is a clear plan for meeting.
• Creating an agenda forces you to consider why
you are having a meeting, what you hope to
accomplish.

25. Agenda
• All the items included in the agenda must be
serially arranged.
• The agenda is prepared by the secretary in
consultation with the chairman of the
company.

26. Agenda
• The order of the items in the agenda cannot be
changed during the course of the meeting except
by the consent of the members.
• The chairman of the meeting must take care to
decide the order in which the items are to be put
on the agenda, especially if there are likely to be
controversies over any of the items.
• It is desirable to have urgent items and non-controversial
items first.

27. 27
NOTICE OF A MEETING
SUN INDIA ENTERPRISE LTD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-
Date------------------
NOTICE
Notice is given hereby to all the members that the next meeting will be held on 17
Dec, --- at 11:00 am in the conference hall2.
Agenda
1. To read and approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25th Oct, 20—
2. To review the working of the Society and its Institutions.
3. To consider purchasing a building for the administrative office.
4. To consider appointment of new distributors for the Eastern region
Secretary

28. Guidelines for Agenda
• It should be clear and explicit.
• It should be in summary form.
• The routine items should be put first and the
others matters later.
• All the matters of similar or allied (related)
character should be placed near each other on
the agenda.

29. Guidelines for Agenda
• Minutes are written in simple past tense; for
example:
• The Secretary read out ……
• The Chairman informed…..
• The meeting ended……

30. Guidelines for Agenda
• Minutes of the items are written in passive
voice; for example:
• The minutes ……..were taken as read and
signed.
• The progress report for December was
presented.
• The next meeting was fixed for…

31. Guidelines for Agenda
• Impersonal passive voice is used for recording
decisions and resolutions. For example:
• It was decided that a committee be
appointed.
• It was resolved that the meeting be
adjourned.
• It was decided to create a separate fund for
the purpose.