Five P's of Effective Meetings

Cameron, Kim, and Whetten, David. Developing Management Skills. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall,2004. 584-589

1) Purpose: (Don't hold a meeting only to make announcements)

• Make Decisions
• Brainstorming
  • A meeting shouldn't be held if key people are missing, when information can be transmitted through email or phone, or when people are not prepared.

2) Participants

• Decide who will be invited to the meeting and what roles they will play. A list of common meeting roles can be found here.

3) Planning

• Agendas for upcoming meetings should be available to participants one-half of the time interval between the last meeting and the upcoming meeting (ex. if you have meetings every two weeks, an agenda should be sent out one week before the upcoming meeting)
• An outline agenda can be found here

4) Participation

• Provide Instructions: Introduce meeting participants to each other
• Establish Ground RUles: Communicate the amount of participation expected and what variations from the agenda will be tolerated
• Establish Decision Rules: Communicate how decisions will be decided upon (e.g. Majority vote, Consensus)

5) Perspective

• Have attendees fill out an anonymous survey asking specific questions such as "what did you like best" or "what woudl you like to see included in the next meeting."

What to do When the Five P's Aren't Working

Running effective meetings takes practice; therefore organizations shouldn't become discouraged if their meetings aren't as successful as they had hoped. Please visit the Academic Leadership Conflict Resolution Web Site here.

Additionally, the Student Organization Office offers one-on-one advising throughout the year for student organizations looking to improve their organizational meetings. Please contact the student organization office at 608-263-0365 for more information.