[19355] in APO-L
Re: Meeting format
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Cliff Gilley)
Tue Oct 13 01:27:13 1998
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 22:30:19 -0700
Reply-To: Cliff Gilley <clifg@SEATTLEU.EDU>
From: Cliff Gilley <clifg@SEATTLEU.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: <199810122359.TAA14636@pop.uky.edu>
On Mon, 12 Oct 1998, Bev Moore <bymoor0@pop.uky.edu> wrote this
expurgated bit of rhetoric:
>Our chapter (Alpha Zeta at the University of Kentucky) has a bit of
>an apathy problem when it comes to the meetings. And I can see why.
>They feel like it's worthless, and no fun, to come to the meeting
>only to hear 30 minutes of announcements, then leave. We've tried a
>lot of things to help. For instance, free food works; icebreakers
>don't.
>What I was wondering, though, is if changing the *format* of the
>meeting would help. As of now, we run through the list of
>officers, and let them give their announcements. Then we have old
>business, new business, announcements, and advisors' announcements,
>closing with the Toast Song (there is rarely any new or old business).
>Pretty standard, but are there any chapters out there that get a more
>receptive response from doing it a different way?
Here's a few suggestinos that may help out, based on how we ran things
back when I was at Gamma Alpha (University of Washington):
1. Bi-weekly General Business Meetings (GBMs) with weekly exec board
meetings -- Helps break up the monotony of meetings, and makes sure
that there's enough on the agenda to actually carry a meeting. There's
no reason to have a GBM if there's really nothing to discuss.
2. Onions and Orchids -- A little tradition we picked up from (excuse
me if I'm wrong) one of our re-chartering member's experience in Eagle
Scouts. Basically, at the beginning of every meeting, little slips of
paper are handed out to everyone, upon which they write some comment.
Then at the end, these are all collected and read aloud by the
President. Allows for some more active participation, and most people
stick around to see what their buddies can make the President say.
Seemed to create quite a few inside jokes within our Chapter. Another
Chapter in our section does something similar, called "one-minute
stories".
3. Marathon Meetings -- Althouhg this sounds a little strange, we
actually had "contests" to see how fast we could run a meeting,
particularly if there wasn't anything of great importance on the
agenda. Trying to fit as much info in as possible in the shortest
amount of time (and not losing anyone in the process) can be an
excellent exercise in time management and agenda planning.
4. Open Forum -- Every one of our meetings had a time set aside
explictly for any member to make comments, suggestions, or ask
questions. Although it wasn't used as much as I'd have liked to have
seen, I think people appreciated the open forum just being there.
5. Sense of Humor -- Nothing makes a meeting more boring than having
someone presiding over them like some tyrannical emperor (not that I'm
saying anyone here is -- it's just a metaphor). I found that the more
open I was in regard to jokes and levity among the meetings attendees,
the better reception I received as the President. Yes, it can derail
the meeting at times, but that's not *always* a bad thing. Go ahead,
let some comments go -- make fun of yourself, even. It seemed to work
for me...then again, maybe they just didn't like me. ;-P
6. Sunshine Chair/Committee -- We adopted a practice of appointing a
"Sunshine Chair" whose job it was, basically, to make the meetings a
little more fun. Celebrating birthdays, holidays, or just brining
candy for everyone to enjoy...that made the meetings a lot happier. We
even made a budget allowance for the Sunshine Chair, which made things
go a lot smoother.
Overall, my best suggestion would be to try to make the meetings a
reflection of the character of your Chapter in general. Some Chapters
don't deal well with a seeming lack of structure, and some *really*
don't deal well with an overwhelming presence of structure. Our
Chapter had some really fun-loving people who liked to goof off, but
knew when business had to be done. And I like to think that the
meetings that I ran (wayyyyy back when *grin*) reflected that.
- Cliff Gilley
2L Student, Seattle University School of Law
Past President, Gamma Alpha Chapter (University of Washington)
Past Section 8 Vice-Chair
_______________________________________________________________________
Cliff Gilley "The greatest trick the devil ever played
SU Law School was convincing the world that he didn't
clifg@seattleu.edu exist." - Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects
