At the beginning; before a meeting starts, it's good to have a little fun. The ice breaker or warm up is something that only should take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes. It gets team members laughing and thinking. An ice breaker can be anything from a joke, a video to a short game. Anything really that is short and fun. As well, to keep the fun, momentum and atmosphere alive throughout the meeting, since meetings can last anywhere from 1 hour to a whole day, it's a good idea to have little toys in the center of the table. Such things as squeeze toys (stress relievers) or little slinky's. Basically toys that don't make noise, however can help a member clear their head and re-focus. As well some candy or miniature chocolates in the center of the table will help to give members a sugar rush if they find they need a boost. Below is a video which I found on the internet as a good ice breaker for a first team meeting. Can you see how it relates to a team? Under the video is a link to a site of a gentlemen by the name of Ken Thompson who uses this same video as an ice breaker and has questions as to how to look at the video and relate it to a team.
At the first team meeting, it's a good idea to do round table introductions. Everyone introduces themselves and tells a little bit about themselves. Just because people work for the same company or organization doesn't mean they know each other. Introductions therefore no longer have to be done at future meetings unless new members join the team or if there are guest speakers or presenters participating in the meeting.
The first meeting and every subsequent meeting should have an agenda. The agenda outlines the purpose of the meeting in general as well as specific topics. There are all different kinds of ways to write an agenda, however all of them should have the following information:
Date
Time
Location
Roles
Purpose/Objective
Topics to be discussed and time allotted
Prime person responsible for each topic
The purpose or topics to be discussed by the team is dependant on what is relevant in the company or organization. If issues are known then the team agenda is easy to write if not the team can always solicit ideas from their peers. You can create your own agenda or I have also added a link below whereby you can get free agenda templates.
To have a great meeting, you have to have the right people on the team. You need to have represtatives with ideas for changes, representatives that changes would affect and of course representatives that can help initiate, bring about or implement changes. How would these team members be chosen? There are many ways of getting the right team members together. You could assign people to the team; you could ask for volunteers or you could have peers nominate who they feel would be the best candidates. What do you feel is the best method? No method is incorrect only some take longer than others. As well, you have to decide how many members the team should have. Of course, the more members there are, the more the work can be divided and finished more quickly. As well, though, the more members on a team the more ideas which may lengthen the time on deciding what to do. However, a smaller team would be more effective and efficient. Once the participants/members of the team are chosen, then they should all be invited to the first meeting. Again this can be done in many ways, such as face to face, phone call, email, etc. A room should be reserved and any equipment required, such as overhead, computer connections, pens, paper, etc should be ordered or booked so that no time will be wasted for materials.
