Ted Rau, co-founder of Sociocracy for All presented our WebChat last week on Meeting Agendas and Minutes. Read the summary below and watch the full WebChat at this link: https://youtu.be/J7HrsF3PXhk

Summary:

A backlog tracks topics between meetings. It is a complete list of topics to be addressed by the committee or group. Keep this list up to date both by adding topics as they are submitted or suggested and removing them when they are complete.

Agendas are for during the meeting. They list the topics to be covered, the time allotted for each topic and the desired outcome. It is recommended for each meeting group to consent to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. For some groups it is useful to follow an agenda template and the same meeting structure for each meeting of the group.

Minutes are a record of what happened at the meeting both for the committee and for reporting the activity of the committee to the larger group. It is important to find the “just right” length of minutes for your group.

Minutes that are too long will not be read and are ineffective. Minutes that are too short do not cover everything. One approach is to send an short summary along with a link to the full minutes document.

Minutes should be approved before sending outside the committee which can be done by email.