How to run a meeting in Fluid?

Running meetings, forms a crucial part of any organisation. Fluid prompts all of the simple behaviours that make meetings great – with automated follow ups and meeting reports, that drive accountability and give you complete transparency on exactly who needs to do what, by when.

This article will show you step by step how to run an effective meeting. 

Before the meeting - Set the expectations

Preparation is a key part in running a successful meeting. As a meeting owner/facilitator, putting the right preparation together ensures that meeting attendees know what the meeting is about and what is expected from them. 

1. Start by setting the meeting agenda.

Vague discussions on a topic rarely achieve anything, and an agenda will ensure that you cover the points needed to reach your meeting objective. At the same time, it will inform and set expectations with attendees.

Use the input controls to create your agenda items, set the assignee(s), add a description or attach a document. Click on the item type to change the type of your meeting item to an action, a decision or a note. 

2. Send the calendar invite 

Notify the attendees about the upcoming meeting. Meeting invites can be sent from the meeting session page.

 

3. Distribute the meeting agenda

Distribute the meeting agenda at least one day before the meeting. The attendees can then come prepare for the discussion as they will have reviewed the agenda and any attached documents. 

4. Send the pre-session actions

In addition to sending the agenda, send the pre-session actions to the assignees. The actions will then appear in the assignee's actions dashboard and they will be able to update on the action progress before the meeting. 

You can learn more about preparing for your meeting here. 

During the meeting - Keep the focus

For the meeting to achieve its objectives, you need to keep the discussion focused on the agenda that you have set.

5. Set the meeting attendance

Start the meeting by setting the attendance. Capturing the overall attendance contributes to the meeting statistics that will be drawn from the meeting.

6. Use the agenda to guide the discussion and take notes

Go through the agenda items and take notes while the discussion is ongoing. Make sure to record any actions or decisions that are agreed on during the discussion. Recording who needs to do what and by when is indeed essential to ensuring that the objectives of the meeting will be met.

Note that there is no need to share the screen in order for other attendees to see the updates. The meeting session page refreshes automatically as new content is added so that all attendees who are logged in and are looking at the meeting session page can see the minutes as they are recorded. This therefore ensures that there is no disagreement later on what was discussed during the meeting.

Learn more about running a meeting here.

After the meeting - Manage the follow-up

Outcomes that are produced in meetings provide meeting attendees with direction and clear objectives on the tasks that need to be completed. 

7. Send the meeting minutes and the actions / decisions

Once the meeting is over and the minutes have been finalised, conclude the session. 

Concluding the session allows you to automatically distribute the minutes to all attendees as well as sending the actions and decisions to all assignees. Note that you can select the template you want to apply to your meeting minutes.

Once the meeting session is concluded, the session page will display the meeting minutes in a read-only format. You will need to reopen the session if you need to make any updates.

8. Follow-up on the actions items

Use the meeting dashboard to track the progress of the actions assigned during the meeting. Click on the chat icon of the actions to collaborate with the assignees.

9. Set up your next session

Finally, set up your next session if one is needed and make sure to follow the above steps!

Learn more about how to manage the follow-up here.