Communication
Process through which sender passes a message to a receiver (audience) who then answers with feedback.
Types of communication
- Formal written and verbal: no slang and little jargon, polite and respectful
- Non-verbal communication: Can confuse message or reinforce it through body language, appearance, voice intonation, volume and clarity, touch, proximity and environment appearance.
- Informal communication: Between co-workers in non-official conversations.
Reasons for meetings, presentations and reports
- Managing a project or people
- Working with a customer
- Other methods of communication are becoming complex
- Arising problems
- Training people
- Conferences
Organising a meeting
- Notify it (purpose, date, time, how to accept or decline invitation)
- Agenda is sent: contains general information, attendee list, minutes of last meeting, matters to be discussed, AOB, data on next meeting.
Key roles in a meeting
Chairperson: Keeps meeting on track, sets rules.
Minute-taker: Records summary which will be sent to attendees.
Evaluating a meeting
Successful:
+ No one dominated conversation
+ All agenda items were discussed
+ Not run-over allocated time
Unsuccessful:
Identify problem, understand why it happened and find solutions to prevent it.
Possible problems:
- One person dominated the conversation
- Agenda items were skipped
- Decisions weren’t made
- People didn’t do the tasks appointed in the previous meeting: minutes not sent or unclear
