Keeping Meeting Notes Organized

If you're overwhelmed by what crosses your desk, it's worth considering the benefits of having a file folder for each month of the year and a file folder for each day of the month. This idea, the "tickler file," sytem has been in practice for years.

Create a file for days 1-31 of the month, and place it at the front of one of your file drawers. Behind that, have a file for each month of the year. If it's the second day of the month, for example, but you receive something that you won't need to deal with until the 15th, then put it in the file for, say, the 13th to allow yourself some slack. If anything comes in that you don't need to handle now, put it in your tickler file. This yields some immediate benefits. It keeps your desk clear and eliminates a lot of worry about where things go.

As the days and months go by, you continually take files that were in front and put them in the back. Once you get this system in place, you'll find that many of the things you file may not need to be acted on later. The benefits of this system are immediate.

80/20 Meeting Management

The Pareto Principle — the 80/20 rule — can be of great help in coping with a long list of tasks to be accomplished especially in regards to planning and conducting a meeting. The mind boggles at long lists and many people become discouraged before they start. Or they begin with the easiest, leaving the most difficult for the last, and never quite get around to them. It helps to know that most of the benefit to be derived from doing what is on the list probably is related to just two or three items.

Select those two or three, allocate a block of time to work on each of them, and concentrate on getting them done. Don't feel guilty about not finishing the list, because if your priorities are valid most of the benefits are related to those two or three items you selected.