About meetings

Types of meetings

Once you (or management) have decided on the meeting's purpose, you need to select an appropriate meeting structure to achieve your purpose. Critical to this choice is the amount of decision-sharing responsibility you will allow your participants to have. Will you call for delegates? Will you ask attendees to devise specific recommendations?

There are many different types of meetings that serve different purposes and are structured in different ways.

Types of meetingsInaugural meetingsAn inaugural meeting is the first meeting held to establish an organisation. Annual general meetingAn annual general meeting (AGM) is held once a year to provide an account of the organisation's position to members/shareholders, to elect office bearers for the coming period and for ratification of critical decisions. Extraordinary general meetingsAn extraordinary general meeting is held when unanticipated events require an urgent response, to precipitate a crisis or to transact special or urgent business. An example could be an extraordinary general meeting held when the accountant has skipped off with the company funds. Directors or board meetingsDirectors or board meetings are held regularly to transact normal company business. For smaller organisations these might be called meetings of the committee of management. Section/department meetingsDepartment meetings are generally regular meetings held to transact business of specific interest to the department. Specific interest groupsSpecific interest groups in an organisation may involve members of different sections or departments coming together to discuss issues of mutual concern, for example, information technology committee or an environmental awareness interest group. ConferencesConferences are meetings for receiving information, consultation and discussion. The order of proceedings is usually distributed in the form of a program rather than an agenda. Seminars and workshopsSeminars and workshops are groups of people who meet together to pursue common study or research areas. Ad hoc committeesAn ad hoc committee is a group formed for a specific purpose, such as preparing a tender submission. This group may meet regularly for a specific period of time determined by the task and normally dissolves after the task is accomplished. Regular or standing committeeA regular or standing committee meeting is one that may be called as part of the ongoing business of an organisation. An occupational health and safety committee and a finance committee are examples of standing committees which remain in place for the life of the organisation.

The General Manager has decided to hold a meeting every second Monday at 11 am for the next three months. The meetings are expected to run for an hour and a half.

What advantages are there in scheduling meetings like this? Are there any disadvantages? Ask your colleagues what they think the advantages and disadvantages are. Create a topic called Monday meetings for this (unless it already exists) in the ValleyView Meeting room.

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About meetings

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