The UUA Senior High curriculum Evensong offers a model for meetings that youth groups could easily fill out with content of their own. The activities focus discussion around a set of quotations on a particular theme. I have made my own example, below, on issues of race. Beforehand, someone should cut out all of the quotations and place.

• Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas 4th Grade
• Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas For Church
• Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas Preschool
• Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas Activities

Taking good, searchable notes makes meetings much more valuable, and the right note-taking tool will make it easy for you to file your meeting notes with the project or topics they relate to. The skills of managing team meetings are fundamental to productive teamwork and usually easy to learn and simple to adopt. The way to a well-facilitated meeting that promotes open communication, creativity, and consensus-building among its members is the same as the answer to the question of how one gets to Carnegie Hall: 'Practice, practice, practice!'

When meetings veer off-track, participants arrive unprepared, and topics are irrelevant — these problems often arise due to poor agenda design.

Agendas are important because an effective one increases team productivity

An effective agenda increases the productivity of the overall meeting because it establishes expectations on what needs to occur before, during, and after a meeting. It helps get everyone on the same page on the most important topics and enables the team to quickly address key issues.

What should be included in the agenda?

As Stephen Covey writes in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.' Agendas are lists of items that participants hope to accomplish at a meeting.

Agendas most often include:

• Informational items - sharing out updates regarding a topic for the group. For example, a manager may provide an update on the year-end planning process.
• Action items - items that you expect the group will want to review during the meeting. For example, performance against a specific time period or trajectory on a product launch.
• Discussion topics - items that you want the group to provide feedback on. For example, collecting input on an upcoming commute policy change and questions that the team has about it.

In addition to this, they'll often include specific details on how the meeting will be run. For example, agenda topics will often specify who will be presenting and for how long in order to establish expectations on who will be responsible for preparing the content and how much time they will have to present it.

Depending on the meeting, agendas can be distributed well in advance of a meeting or shared at the start of the meeting. It establishes the goal of the meeting and ensures everyone is on the same page on what you’d like to accomplish in that timeframe.

Agendas can be very short or very long

How formal should your agenda be? Often, people don’t feel like they have the time to prepare for a meeting much less write a full formal meeting agenda. When the stakes are high or the situation is very formal, it may make sense to include a formal pre-distributed agenda as well as capture meeting minutes. However, the pragmatic approach is to make agendas as simple as possible to meet the task at hand.

Informal Agenda Example

1) Intro (10 minutes - everyone)
2) Review quarter-to-date sales metrics (10 minutes)*
3) Discuss and approve proposal for next quarter’s sales goals (5 minutes)*
4) Review upcoming marketing campaign plan (15 minutes)

*See attached documents for quarterly actual and forecasted metrics.

Formal Agenda Example

1. Standing items - items that are always on the agenda of a regular meeting

- Take attendance
- Approve prior meeting’s minutes
- Team status updates
- Etc.

2. Last Meeting’s Business - discuss topics that were not completed in a previous meeting or action items that are due

- Stephanie - sales quota update (10 minutes)
- David - VP Sales hiring pipeline (5 minutes)

3. New Business - new topics for this week’s meeting

- Sam - Discuss facilities move (20 minutes)
- Randy - Employee engagement survey results (30 minutes)

4. Housekeeping - standing items at the conclusion of the meeting

- Clyde - Announcements
- Review of action items
- Date of the next meeting
- Etc.

Notejoy is a more effective way to manage your meetings

Running effective and productive meetings is more than just establishing a great template - it’s about managing the communication of information around the meeting. Is everyone on the same page about what the meeting’s topics and goals are? Have decisions been shared with everyone who needs to know? If you missed the meeting, how can you catch up on the details? Ensuring that the right people have access to information both in the meeting room and after is vital to operating a successful organization.

Notejoy is an effective solution for teams that want to manage their meeting agendas and notes to get and stay on the same page. It fundamentally changes the way that work is done.

Managing meetings in Notejoy is different for three reasons:

Real-Time Collaboration - As a cloud-based solution, Notejoy allows you to share your meeting agenda in advance with internal and external collaborators. These collaborators can view, discuss, and comment on meeting agendas as well as view the latest version.

Always in Sync - Rather than managing different versions of agendas or multiple threads of conversation, Notejoy allows the entire team to always see agendas including changes and discussions at the same time.

Improved Search and Visibility - With meeting notes and discussion comments documented directly in the agenda, teams can keep details in context and maintain one system of record for everything that happened. Manage who has access to what information, and enable team members old and new to search across past and current meeting content.

Related Resources

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread, few industries remain unscathed – and virtual meetings have become an essential part of how modern businesses maintain productivity and continuity. They’re an easy, cost-effective way to align multiple offices, keep remote employees engaged and work with clients and vendors.

While virtual meetings have likely been a part of your daily work routine for some time now, it’s still easy to fall victim to some major meeting faux pas. Virtual meeting etiquette is a whole new ball game compared to in-person meetings, as many folks are learning this week!

To help you keep your meetings productive and professional, follow these seven simple virtual meeting etiquette rules and tips.

Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas 4th Grade

1. Leave the keyboard alone

Whether you’re diligently taking notes like a model employee or sneakily chatting with your work bestie, the sound of your typing is distracting. It’s not only distracting everyone else in the meeting (because your laptop’s internal microphone is inches away from your keyboard), it’s also preventing you from devoting your full attention to the meeting. Opt for a quality headset or pick up your notebook and pen to take meeting notes instead.

Product tip: Let GoToMeeting take notes for you! Our Smart Assistant automatically transcribes meetings so you can focus on what’s being said – not what to write. After your meeting, you can easily search for keywords in the text of your meeting transcription and share the content with a link.

2. Dress appropriately

One of the magical things about working remotely is the freedom to wear anything to work. It’s the dream, right? Still, there’s no reason to show your co-workers your PJs and bedhead. (Unless it’s a joke the whole team agrees on, in which case we approve).

Take a few minutes to throw on a clean shirt and brush your hair. The best part of actually getting ready while working remotely is that you’ll put yourself in the right headspace to be productive.

3. Be aware of your surroundings

Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas For Church

Your coworkers won’t be able to hear your ideas or take you seriously when there is a pile of dirty clothes in the corner behind you. You also want to avoid looking like you work from the inside of a cave because of bad lighting.

Adjust your work setup so that you face a window or are exposed to plenty of light. And make sure your background is professional and work appropriate! This means:

• No beds (unmade or made) in the background
• No messy rooms or open closets where everyone can see your clutter
• No NSFW artwork

While kids and pets are adorable (and a much needed distraction when you’re feeling overwhelmed), your coworkers won’t love having to talk over a screaming child or barking dog. So, be mindful of noise and…

4. Mute your microphone when you’re not talking

There’s nothing more frustrating than hearing that alien echo noise from conflicting microphones. Save everyone from the ear-splitting madness by joining the meeting while on mute!

Unless you live alone, your house is probably pretty noisy these days. Muting your microphone when you’re not speaking gives other participants the ability to chime in and share their thoughts without distraction or frustration.

5. Speak up

Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas Preschool

When you enter a small meeting (around two to five people) announce yourself when you join. It can be awkward to hear the “someone-just-joined” ding followed by silence. When you hop on the meeting, introduce yourself and say hi – just make sure not to interrupt someone mid-sentence.

Online Meeting Toolseffective Curriculum Ideas Activities

Don’t be afraid to project your voice, too! Your team will appreciate being able to hear you without having to strain their ears or turn their volume all the way up.

6. No food allowed

Try to eat a snack before your virtual meeting. No one wants to see you stuff your face with chips while discussing important business matters. Not only is it distracting to others, you won’t be able to focus on the task at hand because you’ll be worrying about dropping crumbs all over your keyboard.

7. Stay seated and stay present

It may be tempting to check your inbox or carry on a side conversation during a dull moment in a meeting, but don’t do it! You might miss out on key information or an opportunity to give input. If you’re using your webcam, use attentive body language: sit up straight, don’t make big extraneous movements, and don’t let your eyes wander too much.

Expertise and Best Practices for Embracing Virtual Meetings

New to remote work and virtual meetings? We’re here to help! Check out our new Resource Center with tips and tricks on how to master the shift to remote working for employees, managers and IT teams.We will continue to update this pages(and our social channels) with educational materials from both LogMeIn staff and third party experts in the coming days and weeks.

Lastly, if you are a LogMeIn customer looking to help protect your employees and rapidly expand your remote work policies, please contact us. We are committed to supporting you the best way we know how.