MEETING MANAGEMENT

Learn and demonstrate the

ability to plan, prepare, conduct

and follow up on meetings.

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MEETING MANAGEMENT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Meeting Management

Why is this subject covered?

Meeting management is a key soft skill that cluster staff need to

have to coordinate a variety of actions and actors.

How does this relate to my day to day tasks?

Cluster staff routinely hold meetings with different partners

(responding agencies, government, affected populations,

donors), to coordinate assessment and analysis, strategy

development, resource mobilization, and advocacy. Staff must

ensure meetings are purposeful and productive.

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MEETING MANAGEMENT SKILLS

RELEVANCE

Meeting Management Skills

Programmatic Response

MEETING MANAGEMENT – CLUSTER ROLES

MEETING MANAGEMENTROLE PLAY

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MEETING MANAGEMENTEXERCISE - OBJECTIVES

• Identify and address common cluster/humanitarian coordination challenges

• Share tips and best practices for addressing these challenges

• Discuss what can be done before, during and after cluster meetings to ensure more successful meetings

You are invited to

attend a cluster

meeting, at the Peace

House at Sloma City, to

support coordination of

an effective

humanitarian response

6Meeting Management

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MEETING MANAGEMENTEXERCISE – ROLE PLAY INSTRUCTION

Meeting Role Play - Slomania• 9 volunteers:

1. Cluster Coordinator

2. Information Manager

3. WFP

4. FAO

5. Slomanian National Red Cross

6. Samaritan SLOCON (local, main NGO)

7. World Friendly Vision

8. UNDP

9. CRS The rest of us will be ‘co-cluster coordinators’

Meeting Management

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MEETING MANAGEMENTMEETING AGENDA

1. Share information and facilitate collaboration – Who is doing what where?

2. Agree on team to be sent to do a ‘joint’ rapid needs assessment in the Northern affected areas.

3. Agree on next steps to develop a joint emergency response plan

Meeting Management

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MEETING MANAGEMENTEXERCISE – DEBRIEF ROLE PLAY

• Observers: What were the common coordination meeting challenges?

Coordinator: What were the meeting challenges?

• How well were the local actors integrated? (SLOCON, National Red Cross)?

• Identify good meeting management and facilitation practices

• Identify 1 to 2 things which would most improve this meeting

Meeting Management

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BEFORE

• Prepare objective, agenda, attendance list

• Secure right attendees; personal contact

• Choose appropriate venue, time/date

• Send clear invites in advance

• Assign roles (co-chair, note taker, etc.)

• Ensure meeting is necessary, focused, and provides unique value

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DURING:

• Lead the meeting (confidence)

• Review agenda and ground rules

• Guide using active listening, summary

• Balance agenda/timeframe with discussion/inclusion

• Avoid personal focus, arguments

Challenges Discussion off topic or agenda hijacked Participants do not contribute Large participant group Sensitive meeting topics Agenda overloaded Facilitation viewed as not neutral

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AFTER:

Create and disseminate meeting minutes (incl. an action-points matrix)

Ask meeting participants for feedback Foster trust by following through on all

commitments Ensure that outstanding topics go on the agenda

for future meetings

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MEETING MANAGEMENTDURING THE MEETING – DIFFICULT SITUATIONS

Meeting Management

Difficult Situation Tips

Discussion gets off track (derailing/hijacking agenda)

Post the agenda visibly, note the issue (parking lot), remind all of the meeting objective and redirect with a question, work behind the scenes (bilateral discussions outside the meeting)

People are not contributing Try to gauge why they are not participating, ask questions/comments (if appropriate), break into sub-groups, record inputs on a flip chart

Off topic issues If appropriate, ask to discuss at a different time and place and focus on the task at hand

Managing large groups Keep meetings short, break out in smaller groups

Sensitive topics Meet with main stakeholders beforehand, work deals out in private

Overloaded agenda Don’t try to do everything in one meeting (3 main objectives in 60 to 90 minutes), consider shorter meetings, help with team-keeping, parking lot

Facilitation when ‘not neutral’

Co-chair/co-facilitate, thematic sub-groups/working group meetings

Last resort: delay or reschedule the meeting until the issue is resolved

Why is this subject covered?

Meeting management is a key soft skill that cluster staff need to

have to coordinate a variety of actions and actors.

How does this relate to my day to day tasks?

Cluster staff routinely hold meetings with different partners

(responding agencies, government, affected populations,

donors), to coordinate assessment and analysis, strategy

development, resource mobilization, and advocacy. Staff must

ensure meetings are purposeful and productive.

14

MEETING MANAGEMENT SKILLS

RELEVANCE

Meeting Management Skills