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2.3 Sending Out the Meeting Notice
Today, the most common way to send out a meeting notice is through electronic mail. There are some instances where you might use a printed copy, but the majority of the time, it will be through email.
Be sure to create a distribution list inside your email system. Check the help section of the program you use for email. A distribution list allows you to save the entire team's email into a list. There is no need to type out everyone's email address.
A general rule of thumb for sending meeting notices is to email them out at least two to three days before the meeting.
Give extra time for the team to prepare for the meeting. Allow them time to gather information when assigned a complex task in the agenda.
Here are some rules to follow when sending out a meeting notice:
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Send out the date of the meeting
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Send out the time; be sure to include time zone for global programs.
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Make sure it has the right a.m./p.m. -- a common mistake people make.
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The title in the email should include the name of the meeting - time, day, and location.
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In the body of the email, the agenda and a short description of the meeting should be included.
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OPTIONAL: Some email systems do not show the distribution list; sometimes team leaders will put a list of team members the email is going out to at the bottom of the body of the email.
When you are ready to send out a meeting notice, be sure to check over your dates and times before hitting the send button.
A quality check before hitting the send button will keep you from sending wrong dates, times, and locations. Mistakes on the meeting notice can quickly cause confusion and errors around the workplace. Sending out meeting notifications without checking, makes, you, as the team leader, look unprofessional.
2.4 Example of the Meeting Notice
This is an example of the email you send out notifying the team of the meeting. The meeting notification example shows what should be included in the email to the team. Many email systems will allow you to fill out some of the sections listed below.
FROM: Team Leader
TO: Distribution A
SUBJECT: Meeting Notice – Running Effective Meetings Review. Jan 10th, 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. EST – Conference room A
LOCATION: Conference Room A -
START TIME: 8 a.m. EST
END TIME: 10 a.m. EST
This is a meeting notice for the Review of the Running Effective Meetings rough draft of the training session. This meeting will be a decision meeting; several tasks need to have direction and approval from the team. The Agenda is in the attachment to this notification.
People to Attend:
Jason
Jake
Ryan
Steve
Amy
Barb
2.5 EFFICIENCY HINT - UPDATED CALENDAR EVENTS
There are email systems that have a calendar built into the program. For example, MS Outlook has a feature that allows you to create a calendar event and send out for distribution.
The calendar event will update a meeting time inside MS Outlook. Other email systems have a similar feature.
When you create the event, the same rules apply as the email notification. You will fill out all of the important information regarding the meeting.
Once you send out the meeting notice to your distribution list, MS Outlook will send the event to everyone on the team. The team members will either accept or reject the meeting notice.
This is a powerful tool for project managers and leaders; they can determine who is able to make the meeting. They will get feedback from the team, if they can make it, or the reason why they cannot.
Once they accept the meeting notice, this automatically updates on their calendar inside MS Outlook. They will get reminders from Outlook, before the meeting starts.
If you are a team member with multiple meetings, the Outlook Calendar is a powerful tool for time management.
GO MOBILE! Several mobile apps link email from MS Outlook for iPhone and Android phones. This is a powerful tool, because it now uploads the calendar event to your mobile device.
The internal calendar synchronizes with your computer. You can receive and manage meetings through your mobile device. This makes it very efficient to manage your time and multiple meetings through the mobile system.
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