PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

Hello,
Does anyone have a Tip sheet on Effectively Scheduling Meetings.  Lately the admins within our company have been scheduling meetings without first verifing if the time slot will work (especially when the meeting involves 10 + people).  I am looking for a Tip Sheet/Best Practices (if one already exists) on this subject that I can post/ share with all the admins in our offices.  Sometimes when admins are in a position for a long time they forget the basics.  any assistance would be wonderful - trying not to have to recreate the wheel.  Thanks

1.  Check availability in diaries if you have access to view others calendars
2.  Check availability via manager and/or a PA
3.  Use the "attendee availability" tab within New Meeting Request

It is common sense really.  I would never schedule a meeting without doing any of this first as it only causes a headache later on.

Gee is, as usual, quite correct.

I would also add that if it is not always possible for people to use Outlook, then resort to something a little more old-fashioned but still workable.  Ten people is a lot of people and everyone's diaries are quickly filled so more than one date is useful:

Start with most important person first (i.e. your boss)
Consult boss's diary and pick a few dates and times
Email everyone who should attend meeting with selection of dates and times and give deadline for reply
Follow up any stragglers at the deadline
Collate and choose final date and time
Circulate final date and time to all concerned
Make sure this is in your diary and your boss's diary
And somewhere along the way, don't forget to reserve the meeting room and refreshments.

Rain also mentioned something I didn't.....

Ensure everyone who needs to be at the meeting is available and always go with the majority.

Hello there

I work for Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire and I've recently completed a 2 year project to produce Good Admin Practice guides for use by all our staff.  One of these was snappily titled "Managing Diaries and Arranging Meetings".

If anyone wants a copy of it, please email me at lindsay.foody@kirklees.gov.uk.

It is, as you'd guess, very specific to the Kirklees (so the tips for using the email system relate specifically to GroupWise) but the principles are the same for anyone.

It covers all the essentials for preparing for meetings, such as dates, times, duration, resources required, attendee lists, budgets and gives advice on confirming arrangements, choosing layouts, signposting meetings, etc.

Whoa.  This is basic stuff.  Not sure a tip sheet is necessarily the way to go.

When this happens to me, I make a quick, polite phone call (never put these things in emails if you can avoid it) and explain to the organizer that they need to check with you before sending a meeting in final form.

Of course, when there are many participants, this is difficult.  When my boss gives me a long list of attendees, I immediately get the "must-haves" and then work from there.  I also find out from her who she would accept substitute attendees from.
It's tough.  Working in a world bank of 300,000 employees, with attendees in New York, London, Poland, Dubai and Singapore, there can be challenges.

No easy answer here, but my practice is to pick a firm foundation of good meeting practices, find other assistants to back me up, then gently coach the others into submission.  If you can do it in a way that shows them you care and you're not trying to bully them (even when you are!), they will come round and cooperate.

And don't from this as an 'etiquette' issue.  It is not.  It is good or bad business practice.

PKEA

Edited by diamondlady on 18/07/07 02:03 AM.