How to give an opinion,suggestion and comment in a meeting

When You've Got an Idea

Often people don't speak up because they're afraid of going on the record as wrong, uninformed, or as the proponent of a dumb idea. A great way to sidestep this is to depersonalize your idea.When you think you just might have a good idea, go ahead and be confident:

• Have we thought about...
• Did anyone mention... 
• Another option we may want consider...

When You Disagree

When the conversation is heading in a direction that you don't agree with, it's often hard to keep your mouth shut. Of course, it's your right to speak up when you've got something contrarian to say;however, is knowing how to finesse your comments so you don't come off sounding like a jerk. Examples:

• I respectfully disagree with....

When You're Confused

You may have stumbled in late, tuned out at exactly the wrong moment, or simply never known much about the topic at hand.Here are some good phrases to use the next time you find yourself lost in a meeting:

• I'm not entirely sure I'm following you, could you please recap what you just mentioned....
• I'm sure I'm supposed to know this already, but... 
• I apologize if this is totally obvious to everyone here, but....

As a chairman how to pull attention among the meeting members from straying?

1. Testing Understanding 

• To know whether or not an earlier contribution has been understood by individual.

                                    

2. Seeking Information 

• Seek facts,opinions or clarification from the another members.

3. Summarizing  

• Restates the content of previous discussion or events in compact form.
• Useful to make sure that the entire group is up to date with the topics and have a clear understanding.

4. Speaking up   

• Depersonalize idea,putting a question,suggestion among the group members and be confident.
• Putting a question is not only asking for information,but attempting others to think more deeply or    broadly about the topics.          

EXERCISE 1:

CONFORMATION MINUTES OF MEETING

Date:    Febuary 2009

Time:    9.30pm – 10.30pm

Venue:  Meeting Room

Attendees:

Mr. Muzayin Alimon                                   - Proposer

Prof Madya Dr. Wan Fuad Wan Hassan    - Seconder

Prof Madya Dr. Luay                                 - Electronic Manufacturers representative

Secretary                                                   - Person in Charge

No	Subject	Description	Person-In-Charge
1.	Material project	Drilling Fluid Materials-Specification and Test	USM
2.	Memo	Previous minute meeting List of manufacturers Next meeting on late August/early September	Secretary
3.	Letter	Requirement letter to ISC H a.       MS 866- Specification for barites used in oil-well drilling and ISO13500:1988	Secretary
11.	M.C.	Proposer	Prof Madya Dr luay

MINUTES OF MEETING

Date:    25^th January 2011

Time:    9.30pm – 10.30pm

Venue:  Room 2038, Campus UniKL

Attendees:

Muhammad Asral Bin Zainal Abidin 58266110002

Mohd Zamir Syukri Bin Zulkefli 58266110021

Zulkhairi Bin Mat 58266110051

Ridzuan Bin Ramli 58266110085

Ahmad Sharulzaman Bin Zulkifli 58266110024

No	Subject	Description	Person-In-Charge
1.	Material project	Material source from YouTube and useable link Money for presentation	Zamir
2.	Memo	Inform to lecturer Inform to admin UniKL Inform to target school for approval	Sharulzaman
3.	Booth	Decorate the booth Book area of booth	Ridzuan
4.	Transportation	Arrange student arrival from school to IPROM campus a)      fetch and delivered student	Asral
5.	Letter	Requirement letter to Dean a.       Letter for permission use equipment from IPROM b.      Inviting letter to school c.       Approval from technician d.      Material supplied e.       Asking for lecturer to give discourse about engineering	Asral
6.	Costing	Overall costing	Zulkhairi
7.	Souvenir	Asking IPROM for scroll Goody bag to give student	Zamir
8.	Advertisement	Booth poster Banner	Ridzuan
9.	Promotion arrangement	Set up promotion for IPROM	Sharulzaman
10.	Tour guide	Guide student go to their activities a)      Discourse b)      Workshop and lab visit c)      Exhibition	Zulkhairi
11.	M.C.	Give introduction to student about their trip and activities	Sharulzaman
12.	Closing ceremony	Arrange closing ceremony a)      Closing speech b)      souvenir	Asral

tips on how in writing effective meeting minutes

1. Know the purpose

Before writing minutes, you must know the purpose of it. First, a report of meeting minutes is a record. But it is just not the type of record you write, print out, file and then forever forget. It provides a historical account of official business and operational decisions, and involvement of people making the decisions. It is used as a reference which is periodically, or frequently referred to. Sometimes, minutes  of meeting can become a legal document and evidence in court. So, don’t play play.

2. Keep it concise

Keep the key information in order and make sure you don’t miss critical info. You only have certain limited time and it will be impossible to write every single thing discussed during a meeting. So, keep it concise, i.e. compact and short. Take notes of the issues discussed, major points raised and decisions taken. Make sure what you write will be easily understood, and usable in the future. Keep in mind, many of the meetings require the attendees looking back at the previous meeting’s minutes. So if people can’t read them, they’ll go for your head instead.

3. Get right info, follow right format

To keep it short, here are list information that should be in your minutes of meeting:

·         Time, date and venue of meeting

·         List of attendance (and their position)

·         Agenda of meeting – key agenda, details, and specific action plan, and owner/executor of the plan

·         Name of person taking minutes (you!)

4. Keep a record

Normally, after minutes are hand-written, they are transferred into a proper computerized document (e.g. Microsoft Word or Excel), properly restructured, save and printed out. Good and fast typists can immediately record conversation into the computer/laptop, where this requires less time for fine tuning later on. The minutes are then distributed among the attendees of the meeting, or those who will be responsible to take actions as per discussed during the meeting.

Tips & Warnings

When typing the meeting minutes, number the pages and use consistent tense. Avoid using names, except in cases of motions or seconds. Limit the use of adjectives and adverbs. Avoid personal observations. Attach additional documents, if applicable, in an appendix or state where they can be found.