Basic Business Communication. Lesson 3. Meetings and Presentations

Basic Business Communication
Lesson 3: Meetings and Presentations
1. Meetings
The purpose of a meeting is to get people together to discuss matters of common interest and attempt to
make decisions, achieve resolutions, and take actions.
• A resolution is a motion that has been approved or passed by the meeting.
• A motion is a proposal that was discussed and voted on if necessary.
• If there is unanimous agreement or consensus after the discussion of a motion, the motion can be
approved without a vote.
o Unanimity is when everyone agrees with the motion.
o Consensus is when no one disagrees with the motion.
1.1. Types of meetings
We distinguish between private meetings and public meetings.
Private meetings are those held by the members of organisation or for people who belong to a special
interest group or that have a shared identity. All private meetings are characterised by the fact that
participants need an invitation to attend the meeting. This invitation can either be formal or informal
depending on the type of meeting.
Four examples of private meetings are given in the table below.
Private meeting type Formality of invitation Basis of invitation
Family meeting Informal Part of the family
AGM Formal Shareholder
Webinar Formal or informal Payment
Director’s Formal Directorship of the company
The purpose of private meetings are to make decisions, to brainstorm, to solve problems, to give briefings, to
consult and to share information.
Public meetings are open to everyone who are interested in the meeting and are often convened to discuss
socio-economic, political issues or religious issues. The purposes of public meetings are often to inform
people about communal issues, to garner support, to protest, or to explain.
1.2. Meeting Platforms
Meeting platforms can either be interpersonal or technology driven. Interpersonal platforms will include
boardrooms, meeting rooms and war rooms while technology driven platforms will include all telephone or
video conferences, interactive white boards and groupware like Teams, Zoom Skype, and Google Meet.

Go to https://www.emailtooltester.com/en/blog/video-conferencing-market-share/
to see worldwide use of the most popular video call conferencing platforms.
1.3. Rules & Procedures
The document that sets out the governing rules of an organisation is known as the constitution, while the
rules that govern how meetings should be run is known as the standing orders.
Before a meeting can go ahead and make decisions, a minimum number of members, as specified by the
constitution, need to attend the meeting. This minimum number is known as a quorum. If there is no
quorum, the meeting can still go ahead, but it will not be able to take any decisions.
The following general rules will help you to conduct a successful meeting.
• Agree on the format.
• Follow the agreed procedures.
• Appoint a chairperson and give that person full control of the meeting.
• Avoid “General” as an agenda point as far as possible.
• Don’t interrupt the speaker and listen to all contributors.
• Keep it short and don’t get personal.
Any member of a meeting can call for a point of order during the meeting if that member is of the opinion that
others are not following the meeting rules. A point of order is a formal complaint (to the chairperson) at a
meeting.
When a meeting has to decide, the following process can be followed.
1. The issue is discussed, or someone will make a presentation.
2. Someone proposes that a certain course of action be followed.
• i.e., the mover proposes a motion.
3. Someone else seconds the proposal.
• i.e., the seconder formally supports the mover of a motion.
4. The meeting takes a secondary vote on the proposal.
5. The proposal can is amended. (An amendment.)
6. A final vote on the proposal is taken.
If, for any reason, you cannot attend a meeting where your presence is required, you must make apologies,
by informing the secretary that you will not be able to attend before the meeting. Your name will then be
recorded under “apologies” and not “absent”.
If you know that there is going to be a vote on a matter, and you want your opinion recorded, you can give
another member proxy to act on your behalf. The proxy can be limited to the issue in question, or you can
give your substitute general proxy to represent you at the meeting.

1.4. Meeting documentation
The Notice
A “Notice of meeting” is a document that informs a group of people when and where
an assembly, of which they are part of and are required to attend, is going to be held.
It also gives an indication of what the meeting will be about. The following must be
included in the notice.
• The date and time of the meeting.
• The location of the meeting.
o The recipients must know where the meeting is held.
o They must know whether it is an online or face-to-face meeting.
• The type of meeting. - Is it a regular, annual, and special meeting.
• The purpose of the meeting. – It will give the readers context regarding the meeting’s content.
• The required participants.
o Those who will make a presentation.
o Those who are required to participate and vote.
o Those that are only invited to observe.
• The meeting agenda.
o The list of topics that the meeting will cover.
o This will give the recipients opportunity to prepare for the meeting.
The Agenda
An agenda is an outline of the issues that a group will discuss during its meeting. Without an
agenda your meeting is likely to be unproductive. Care must be taken in the preparation of
the agenda and specific topics that are to be discussed at the meeting must be placed
under the correct item in an outline format.
The following standard agenda items, can be adapted as needed for your meeting.
1. Opening the meeting / Calling it to order.
• The chairperson calls the meeting to order according to the meeting rules of the organisation.
2. Take presentation / Roll call.
• Attendance is taken. It is better to do this with the aid of a prepared list of members’ names, with
spaces for recording whether a member is present, absent, or late.
3. Reading and approval of the minutes of the previous meeting.
• The secretary normally reads, after which the chairperson asks for any corrections.
• After corrections are made, the minutes can be approved.
4. Report backs from office bearers and subcommittees.
• Office bearer reports are normally for informational purposes.
• Standing committees will report next and ad hoc committees after them.
• If any report makes a recommendation, it can be discussed afterwards.
5. Matters arising from previous minutes / Unfinished business.
• All business left over from the previous meeting(s) is discussed.
• Unfinished topics is dealt with in turn.

6. New business.
• New business is discussed as per the agenda.
• New business items that is raised by the floor can be accepted but must be kept to a maximum
allowed number of topics.
7. Announcements
• The chairperson can make, or call on others in the meeting to make announcements of interest,
• Announcements do not require further discussion.
8. Other program items.
• Sometimes a guest speaker will address the meeting, or a film will be shown.
• These will normally require discussions at the next meeting.
9. Closing the meeting / Adjournment.
• When the agenda is completed, the chair will adjourn the meeting.
The Minutes
Meeting minutes are notes that are recorded during a meeting to have a
reliable record of the following.
• The key issues that was discussed
• Proposed motions and their results.
• Activities to be undertaken.
If you follow the guidelines below, your minutes will be reliable and useful.
• Appoint a competent person to the minutes.
• Use a format that is best suited for the type of meeting.
• Note the start and end times of the meeting.
• Note the location where the meeting took place.
• Record all pertinent discussions, decisions, conclusions, and action items.
• Type (retype) the final minutes as shortly after the meeting as possible.
• Distribute the meeting minutes to the attendees.
• Archive the meeting minutes.
There are three standard meeting minutes formats, as indicted below.
• Action minutes record the decisions reached and the actions to be taken, but not the prior
discussions.
• Discussion minutes record the records the decisions reached as well as a summary of the prior
discussion.
• Verbatim minutes record every word said at a meeting.
The meeting minutes will follow the meeting agenda topics, but the note taker may have to move forward and
backward through the agenda to tie new discussions to previously covered topics.
• Decisions, as well as the method used to reach the decision, must be noted.
• Action items must be clearly defined. Expectations, timeframes and the person or team responsible
for completing the task, must also be noted.
Go to https://www.g2.com/categories/meeting-management to see a comparison of helpful meeting
management software.

Work logs
Work logs are document that are used to keep track of the progress
made with the action items that was noted during the meeting. It
indicates what work is done, by whom, and how long it took. They
ensure the following.
• That the team keeps focus.
• That progress can be tracked.
• That accountability is ensured.
1.5. Meeting officers and their duties
The figure below summarizes the duties of the chairperson and the secretary, who will be responsible for
certain tasks in all meetings. More formal meetings, might have additional officers.

2. Presentations
When you have to do a formal presentation in the business world, you must give attention to the four
elements of a presentation as illustrated below.
2.1. The speaker
A good presentation starts with you. You must look and sound the part if you are going to be taken seriously.
The illustration below summarises the qualities and the disciplines of a good speaker.

Assertiveness
Doing a presentation, especially if it is done before your seniors in the workplace,
requires assertiveness. And while assertiveness is a prerequisite when doing a presentation, it is a life-skill
that you need to develop and apply to all spheres of business communication.
The illustration below summarizes the nature of assertiveness and how you can develop this life-skill.
2.2. The message
The second element of a good presentation is the message itself. If you are a good speaker, but the
message is unclear or incoherent, you will only do yourself reputational damage. The way to structure your
message is illustrated below.

2.3. The visuals
The main thing that you have to remember is that your visuals must compliment your message and that the
visuals alone must not become the focus point of your presentation. It is counterproductive if your audience
walk away, being impressed by your visual aids but they cannot remember your message. Stick to the
principles given in the illustration below when preparing your visual aids for a presentation.
2.4. The audience
Remember that even if you have a standard presentation, you still have to finetune it according to the
makeup and expectations of your audience. The two main points to remember is that you are the expert that
must keep control of your audience, and that you are still busy with interpersonal communication, so do not
alienate your audience.