Conducting Meetings

At some point in everyone’s life, it will be necessary for them to work on group projects and interact and share ideas with others in order to make decisions, plan, complete tasks, and integrate ideas. A great and efficient way to facilitate this is to conduct group meetings, whether live in person or through the use of videoconferencing tools or social media. In addition, you may need to use different elements in order to enable a smooth running meeting, based on meeting type e.g., staff meeting, planning meeting, problem solving meeting, etc. Meetings can be an instrumental part of completing tasks in the field of technical writing due to the collaboration and critique of the participants.

Listening Effectively
In order to be an asset and participating member involved in a meeting you must listen effectively to the current speaker. "Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process."*  This allows you to better understand what others are thinking and speak knowledgeably when you contribute.

Pay Attention to the Speaker
While listening to the speaker it is important to maintain eye contact and avoiding letting your mind wander. Put other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are being communicated. A good way of doing this is by refraining from multitasking.

Listen for Main Ideas
Be sure that you are properly interpreting the main ideas of what is being communicated. A way of doing this is looking for key phrases that indicate that certain words are the major part of a speakers message. In addition, listeners should keep in mind is that when many speakers conclude their arguments, they summarize their most important points.

Avoid Emotional Attachment to the Speaker's Ideas
It's important to be respectful of speaker's and their ideas and opinions, even if you don't agree with them. Rather than pondering on why you disagree with them, you should hear them out and see what they will say next.

Ask Questions and Provide Feedback
One of the most critical parts of listening is providing feedback to the speaker. Giving a simple head nod allows the speaker to continue confidently knowing that their audience is understanding their messages and ideas. In addition, asking clarifying questions can give you a better understanding what the speaker is thinking and may even help other participants in the meeting interpret the speakers messages.

Setting An Agenda
Setting an agenda for a meeting is an imperative aspect of planning and executing a smooth running, efficient, and fruitful meeting. Each meeting should be thoroughly outlined and well structured. Making an agenda ensures a good flow, and will help keep the participants focused. The agenda is central for a well-organized meeting.*

Establish Meeting Logistics
First, you must decide the meeting participants. Deciding who is to attend depends on what you want to accomplish in the meeting.* Be sure that all participants are aware of the exact time and location of the meeting in order for the meeting to run smoothly. In addition, it is beneficial to express what tools will be used to communicate with prior to the start of the meeting so that everyone is on the right page.This is crucial to allow all participants to arrive on time and fully prepare themselves for the meeting.

Define the Meeting Tasks and Goals
Defining the main goals of the meeting will allow participants to fully prepare what they wish to contribute as well as analyze the audience, purpose, and scope of the content of the meeting.

Pick a Team Leader
Designate a meeting Leader who understands meeting principles, is familiar with the agenda and is a skilled contributor.* The team leader will help facilitate and encourage participation from the members of the meeting and make sure the meeting stays on track.

Define Each Participants Tasks
The tasks and of each participant should be decided in the agenda of the meeting, according to their specific skills and role in the meeting. This allows members to understand their responsibility throughout every stage of the meeting. In order to work together on technical writing each participant must be fully aware of the purpose and audience of their task.

Establish a Process to Resolve Conflicts
Formulating this process helps set a standard for what action is to be taken if there is conflict between members. Disagreements are certainly part of the decision making process that takes place in meeting. These conflict resolving policies must be agreed upon by all members prior to the meeting. A common process to resolve conflicts is a simple hand vote.

Create a Way to for Participants to Provide Feedback
Allowing participants to give feedback regarding the meeting allows for more efficient and smoother running meetings in the future as well as evaluating the value of each member's contributions and completed task and responsibilities.

Communicating Diplomatically
Avoid Personal Remarks and Interruptions In addition to listening well to others, you should refrain from making personal remarks while others are developing their ideas. This may upset them as well as distract them from what they are trying to communicate. You must be tolerant and respectful of other people's views. This will also allow the meeting to run smoother. 

Avoid Being Repetitive
When expressing your own ideas and views on the topic being discussed, you should never overstate your position.* To effectively communicate with the participants of the meeting you must understand that they may not share the same opinions as you. When people oppose you, do not get emotion and try to understand their reasoning. A good example of how to ease the members of the meeting into your ideas is by using "I think" or "it seems" rather than stating you're ideas are the best possible options for decision making. At the end of your discussion, summarize your main points to leave all participants with the underlying meanings and show that progress is being made towards the purpose of the meeting.*

Provide Constructive Feedback
Just like how it was mentioned that you should give feedback in the listening effectively section, you're feedback must be relevant and constructive. Asking pertinent questions encourages other members to see ideas in a new way and make progress in making decisions. In addition, if members seem confused at any time, you must restate your points in a very clear and thorough matter to alleviate any miscommunication. Critiquing and peer reviewing others work is imperative in the technical writing process.

Critiquing a Participant's Ideas and Work Respectfully
Critiquing another member's work is not always easy. In order to be respectful, you should always find a positive aspect of their writing to set a nice tone with them. You should then begin expressing the major problems with their writing first and work your way towards smaller issues.