Upload
wes
View
51
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
CAES1507 Professional and Technical Written Communication for Engineers. Session Two Minutes Writing. Roles of Participants. Chairperson? Secretary? Committee Members?. Effective Committee Meetings. The Chairperson Planning Informing Preparing Controlling. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Citation preview
CAES1507Professional and Technical Written
Communication for Engineers
Session Two
Minutes Writing
Roles of Participants
Chairperson? Secretary? Committee Members?
Effective Committee Meetings
– The ChairpersonPlanningInformingPreparingControlling
Effective Committee Meetings
The Secretary– Providing secretarial and administrative assistance
to the Chairperson at the planning, informing and preparation stages
– Taking notes during the meeting– Drafting the minutes after the meeting– Circulating the draft minutes for additions and/or
corrections– Circulating the confirmed minutes among committee
members
Effective Committee Meetings
The Committee Members– Explaining their ideas clearly– Reacting to other people’s ideas– Helping the chairperson keep the meeting going
Causes of Ineffective Meetings
Drifting off subject Poor preparation Lack of listening Verbosity of participants Length Lack of participation Lack of clear objectives or agendas Unclear results Poor organization Poor chairing
Improving Ineffective Meetings
State the objective at the outset Prepare an agenda Be selective when picking participants Manage meeting time Take charge Close with a summary
Note-Taking
Follow the agenda closely and listen carefully throughout. Ask for clarification wherever necessary
Take brief, relevant notes under each agenda item. Summarize the main points raised and record action to be taken and by whom, if relevant
Note-Taking
Interrupt the meeting at appropriate time if necessary, to make sure your notes accurately reflect what has been discussed
Check that you are happy about the notes after the meeting. If information is missing or vague – check with relevant member
Note-Taking
It is very important that you actually take notes during a meeting. Do not rely on your memory alone.
Although, you will have developed your own style of note taking, you may want to consider other alternatives like the one shown on p. 14 of the course notes.
Agenda
The following is an example of a typical meeting agenda. Discuss the following questions:
Why do we need an agenda before the meeting? (i.e. what are the purposes of having an agenda?)
What should be discussed under items 1, 2, and 7?
Minutes
Draft the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting
Keep your notes until the minutes have been approved
Be selective – be accurate, brief and clear with your writing
Minutes
Put any action to be taken in a prominent place after each item. Include the names of the person responsible as well
Structure the minutes so that they follow the structure of the agenda, and avoid complicated numbering systems
Check your minutes with the chairperson and then circulate them to the other committee members as soon as possible (some time before the next meeting)
Minutes
Read the following example (pp. 17-18) of minutes of a meeting, of which the agenda has been discussed in the previous section.
Discuss the following questions with your classmates
1. What is the connection between the agenda and the minutes of a meeting?
2. What information should be included in the minutes? 3. How is information arranged under each discussion item to
make it reader-friendly? 4. Which tenses are used in the minutes? Why are these tenses
used? 5. Personal pronouns (we, you, I, he, etc) are not used in the
minutes. Why not? How do we avoid using personal pronouns?
Format of Minutes (1)
Title of the Meeting– Minutes of the 3rd Meeting of the End of
Year Project Exhibition Committee
Present: Name + Position– Linda Cooley Chair
– Apology? Absence?
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 1 Confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting
– The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed subject to the following amendment:
Item X Y was amended to Z
OR
– The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed without any amendments
If changes needed
If no amendment needed
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 2 Matters ArisingLatest report of the items raised / discussed
in the previous meeting
Item 3: Of the three companies contacted for banners to promote the
exhibition, the Bandwagon Company, Ltd. made the best offer of HK$500 each for 1-3
banners and HK$400 each for 4-10 banners in three colours.
Item number
General information WITHOUT reporting verbs: verbs in different tenses
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 2 Matters ArisingAGREED: The Bandwagon Company Ltd. will
be asked to produce 6 banners.
ACTION: Rose will liaise with the banner company about the
details of design, size, content and colour scheme.
Capitalised for attention
Agreement / Actions not taken yet – Future tense
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 2 Matters ArisingItem 5: The Finance Office confirmed that
the overall budget for the exhibition would not be increased from last year due to the economic downturn. The budget is
fixed at HK$10,000.
REPORTING VERB – Past Tense + reported speech
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 3 XX (form of a noun phrase)Insurance factors have required that a security system be installed for the exhibition. UST and HK PolyU recommended Production Management Systems as providers of customized temporary security systems
NOT REPORTING VERB – Different tenses
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 3 XXAGREED: The subcommittee on security
for the exhibition will contact Mr. Jackson of Production Management Systems to see
what they can provide.
ACTION: Robin
Item – Form of a Noun Phrase
Format of Minutes (1)
Item 5 XXThe Chair informed the committee that the Estates
Office had circulated a notice stating that ALL visitors to
thecampus would be required to pay the fees set by
WilsonParking.
AGREED: A letter will be sent to the Estates Office asking them to exempt visitors from paying fees.
ACTION: Denis
PASSIVE VOICE
Format of Minutes (1)
Item X A.O.B.
There being no further business, the meeting
closed / was adjourned at 4:30PM
Next Meeting: April 12 at 3:30PM
Minutes Writing Task
Now you will be shown the video of the 4th meeting of the End of Year Project Exhibition.
Take notes while you are watching it. You will be asked to produce the minutes for this meeting. The agenda of the meeting is on p. 19 of the course notes.