� ITCommunicating
through Yahoo Messenger
Members / Resource Centre (per ITCintl.com) Homepage
Cyber Board Meeting Guidelines� Modified: 12 September 2005 09:38:00
Guidelines for Net Meetings Using Yahoo Messenger
Before the meeting
All participants must register with Yahoo! Messenger
Arrange the date and time of the meeting well in advance, time differences and daylight saving time variations (if applicable). This can be quite confusing, so always make sure that everybody is clear about the time.
Assign each person a typing color (best if bold) so the participants can be� easily identified
Establish an order of ?speaking?. This avoids multiple simultaneous comments, which is essential to preventing the discussion from getting out of control
Prepare a detailed and clearly numbered agenda to be used as a ?road map? during the meeting.
Distribute the agenda at least seven days before the meeting
Distribute reports and other material at least seven days before the meeting earlier if possible
Review all reports as soon as they are received and hold pre-meeting discussions by email as far as possible - to make more effective use of the meeting time
Check emails for last-minute changes to the agenda or new information
Log on to Yahoo/M a few minutes before the meeting so that everybody will be connected and ready when the meeting is due to start
At the meeting
Establish a time limit for the meeting
If anyone is unable to remain online for the entire time allotted, indicate this at the start of the meeting
Appoint somebody to ?invite? participants back into the discussion if they are disconnected and lose contact
Appoint somebody to ?save? the text of the discussion and use it to write the minutes. At least 2 other people should also ?save? the text ? as a safeguard
Type carefully so as to minimize errors which can make it difficult for others to understand what you have written
If you want to make a lengthy response, send the message ?typing? so that others will wait for you and not continue with the discussion
If you are typing a lengthy message, send a few sentences then send the message ?more to come? each time, to indicate that your response is incomplete
You may find it useful to ?copy? and ?paste? from pre-prepared text sometimes, rather than typing everything
When referring to a person not at the meeting, use first and last name, office and region/council/club (as appropriate) for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with the person referred to.
Keep to the topic under discussion ? this is not easy and requires discipline
If a discussion point is closed, do not continue with it when the rest of the group has moved on. If there is still something you want to say, make a note of it and bring it up later.
The Chairman should introduce the next topic for discussion by referring to the Agenda number. This is a useful ?signpost? for the participants during the meeting and for the person who will prepare the minutes from the text of the discussion after the meeting.
Have one person responsible for ensuring that any details which should be minuted are actually typed (not assumed) so they will appear in the text of the discussion
Make sure that all Actions are clearly identified. It helps if the Chairman types ?Action ? Mary Smith? or ?Assignment ? Mary Smith?. It makes the Actions easier to find amongst all the other saved text.
After the meeting
Circulate the saved text of the discussion to all participants as soon as possible
Circulating the list of ?Actions? to all participants as soon as possible, rather than waiting for minutes to be completed, is helpful
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����������������������������������������������������������������������� Rosemary Michael
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