Learn the secrets to productive academic meetings
Magna Publications News Release
Madison, Wis.—December 2, 2010—Those who work on college campuses spend a lot of time in meetings. Too often, a lot of that time is squandered because meetings are not structured properly or disruptive participants are allowed to dominate the proceedings. It’s no wonder announcements of upcoming meetings often elicit groans.
In Magna’s recent seminar How to Plan and Lead Productive Academic Meetings, Anne Massaro, Ph.D. outlined effective strategies for improving meetings that involve faculty members. She also provided many helpful ideas for managing annoying behaviors that can derail a meeting and undermine collegiality.
Dr. Massaro began by outlining different types of meetings, which range from informational and exploratory to progress reports and decision-making. She explained that each type has its own distinct objectives that must determine how to conduct them. As Massaro states, “Meetings that don’t have focus or that are unproductive and unruly can cause stress and frustration. They can lower morale and they can waste a lot of time.”
According to Massaro, the majority of higher education meetings are either exploratory or focused around making decisions. Most informational purposes do not require a formal meeting and are best handled through standard communication channels, such as email.
This 75-minute seminar addressed many other practical issues related to academic meetings, including:
- Preparation time required to plan an effective meeting
- Setting realistic meeting objectives
- Writing agendas
- Establishing and enforcing ground rules
- When to say “no” to suggested topics
- Responding to an inappropriate outburst
- Dealing with discussion dominators
- Seeking alternative views from quiet participants
- Determining sound decision-making procedures in advance
- Providing helpful feedback to individual participants
- Meeting follow-up and distribution of minutes
During this seminar, Dr. Massaro also reviewed different possible meeting scenarios and provided recommendations for how to respond to difficult situations that might arise. Participants also received helpful outlines to assist in the preparation and evaluation of future meetings, including a sample agenda, a list of recommended ground rules, an issue preparation form and questions for further discussion.
Meetings that aren’t planned properly tend to go badly. This seminar is valuable viewing for everyone tasked with leading academic meetings and will contribute greatly to improving the quality of those held on your campus.
If you missed the seminar and would like to purchase it for your institution, you can order the program in CD or print transcript format, both of which include the presenters' handouts.
Magna Publications is a leading publisher of newsletters and other information products in the higher education segment. Magna also manages onsite and online conferences on topics of interest to higher education.
For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.
