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.

Just joined; found this site from an associate at LinkedIn.com.

I'm an EA in NYC, formerly with Citigroup.  Looking for a new job right now, ready for the next challenge.

I'd like to start a professional EA/PA Forum in NYC, one that meets monthly and really contributes somethiing to professionals.

To help market myself during my job search, I've created a career website at http://www.pkea.us. I'd appreciate your input and reactions - probably very few EAs have such a site, so I do realize it's non-traditional.   But it reflects my skills and personality, and I think it will be useful to recruiters.

By the way, does anyone know anything about IAAP?  I found the NYC chapter online, but it doesn't look like they've updated their site since 2005.  

Looking forward to knowing many of you.

Regards,

Paul Klenk

p.s. If you'd like a taste of my personal side, my personal site is http://www.paulklenk.us.  I add quite a bit of content every week, mostly for close friends, family, and associates.