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Study Skills : Meeting with Your Group
Meeting with Your Group: sub-module 1 of 3 of group work
Group meetings are often a big part of group work because they help you work together as a team. This module explains some strategies to help you run effective group meetings, including meeting agendas and meeting notes.
Tips
- Create an agenda of topics covered at each meeting.
Planning what you need to cover can help keep your meeting on track and help you remember everything you need to discuss. - Take notes during the meeting.
These notes, known as ‘minutes,’ can help you remember what was decided during meetings. They can also help anyone who missed the meeting catch up.
Tools
Templates:
Tools to Meet Online:
Collaboration tools:
Effective Group Meetings Strategies
Setting a Meeting Agenda
Meeting agendas are a useful way to give your meetings some structure and make sure you talk about everything you need to cover. It also gives group members a chance to prepare for the meeting. Watch the video or read more about how to create a group contract below.
How to Create a Meeting Agenda
All members of the group should tell the person with the role of organizer what they want to talk about in the meeting. The organizer can add these items into the agenda. Use our Group Meeting Agenda Template to complete the following steps:
- Fill in the details about the meeting, including the project name, the class, and the date and location of the meeting. This identifies which meeting the agenda is for, and makes sure there’s no miscommunication about when and where you’ll be meeting.
- Under ‘what,’ add the general topic that you will discuss, or task that needs to be accomplished, e.g. “Define outcomes of the project.”
- Under ‘who,’ write the names of the people who are talking about this item. If everyone is involved, you can write “All.”
- Under ‘How,’ add more specific details about what you need to do. For example, “Everyone thinks of two objectives for the project. Compare ideas and agree on the group’s objectives for the project.”
- Save this agenda and send it to all of the group members before the meeting. Have a copy with you at the group meeting so that you can use it to structure the meeting.
Taking Meeting Notes
When you meet with your group, it’s a good idea for one person to take notes of what you discussed and what decisions were made. This type of notes is called meeting minutes. Watch the video or read more about taking meeting minutes below.
How to Take Meeting Minutes
Take minutes for your meeting as the discussion is happening. Use our Group Meeting Minutes Template to complete the following steps:
- Fill in the details about the meeting, including the project name, the class, the date and location of the meeting, and the name of the person taking notes. This identifies the meeting for which the minutes are taken.
- Write down the names of all of the members who are at the meeting and the members who were not able to make it.
- Write the general topic in the column labelled ‘Item’, e.g. brainstorm project topics. If you created a meeting agenda before the meeting, you can use the items on the agenda as a guide.
- Now add a summary of what was discussed during this part of the meeting under Key Points, e.g. a list of the topics that were proposed.
- Write down anything that needs to be done for this item. This will help group members see at a glance if they are supposed to be doing something specific, e.g. do background research on topic options.
- Write down the date and time of the next meeting if it has been decided.
- Send the meeting minutes to all of the group members after the meeting.
Meeting Online
It's not always possible or convenient to meet with your group members in person. When that is the case, you can meet online. Watch the video to learn strategies for successful online group work. Additionally, check out the list of tools below to find something that works for your group.
Meeting tools:
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that you can use to meet with your group. Watch the video below to learn more about how to use it. You can also use one of the other meeting tools listed on this page.