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Agenda Manager


Productive Meetings with the Support of Easy-to-Use Technology
     
The Dilemma:
Meetings are meant to be an efficient way for people to get together to discuss ideas, consider issues, overcome obstacles and drive outcomes – however, they are notorious for spiraling into a black hole from which neither outcome nor follow up ever occurs.  A bad meeting occurs when one or more of the following are true:
  • The meeting has no purpose or agenda.
  • The meeting ends without results or conclusions.
  • The meeting lacks collaboration or discussion.
  • The meeting participants are unprepared or key members are not present.
The purpose of a productive meeting is to facilitate communication, collaboration, and to forward an action-oriented agenda that facilitate decision making and outcomes. When you encounter any of the items listed above, it causes meetings to be counter-productive, long and lack direction. More specifically, for Service Agencies and School Districts, cumbersome agenda-tracking programs not only fail to support the work, they actively hamper the development and implementation of policies/practices meant to advance education.

The Solution:
Let us start with some well-established tips for having productive meetings:
  • Set clear expectations with a clear agenda.
  • Include any pre-meeting work for a productive meeting.
  • Set the target outcomes and allow time for discussion.
  • Stay true to the agenda and move tangential discussions to another meeting.
  • Identify the norms and the roles for group members.
  • Find time for relationship building, the fundamental building block of all great meetings.
Want to know how to implement all the tips and tricks of a productive meeting and at the same time avoid the pitfalls of a bad one? The Capital Area Intermediate Unit has developed an online Meeting Management solution called AgendaManager®. AgendaManager® provides a common web-based platform for planning and implementing all service agency and school district meetings, such as Board, Administrative, and Faculty. With AgendaManager® literally any meeting can be made more productive. This solution not only allows you to implement positive meeting practices through technology, but also supports communication within school districts and service agencies as well as communication between service agencies and school districts.
 
For more information, please contact Rocky Brent at the Capital Area Intermediate Unit. (rbrent@agendamanager.com / 1-888-258-3629) or visit our website at http://www.agendamanager.com.

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