Formal letter format

source : http://www.tutor.com.my/creative/Apr/image/PMR_BI3b.gif

memo project

MEMORANDUM

To: Member MINISTER OF PAIN
From: Mr. Zamir (Project Planning Manager)
Date: 6 February 2011
Subject: Monthly Meeting

Meeting will be discussing about project proficiency English planning and activities. The detail will be including with minute meeting.

The meeting will be held:

Date: 8 February 2011
Venue: UNIKL Room 2040
Time: 9.30 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

Your attendant will be recorded and those who don’t attend will get penalties.

Please contact Mr. Zaman for any further information.

Following up the meeting

GETTING CREDITS FOR YOUR IDEAS

There are some non-aggressive strategies for making sure you get recognition for your ideas.Firstly is you should share your ideas with others who will present.Secondly,you should put your proposal in writing and send to all members of a group.Lastly,reminded the others where the original idea came from in a sincere manner.


ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION

Unbalanced participation can cause two problems.It will discourages people who don't get a chance to talk.It also will prevents the group from considering potentially useful ideas.
There are several ways to improve participation at meeting.
(a) Nominal group technique(NGT).Consist of 5 phase:
      -Each member writes down their ideas and then collected by a discussion leader.
      -All ideas are posted for every member to see.
      -Discuss the ideas but criticism is prohibited.
      -Each member privately rank-orders the ideas.
      -Items with largest votes are discussed critically and decision can be made by using decision making
       method.
 (b) Have members take turns.
       -Give every member a turn to speak.
 (c) Use question.
       -4 types of question to balance the contribution of members.
            -Overhead question : Directed toward the group as a whole.
            -Direct question       : Aimed at particular individual.
            -Reverse question    : Occur when a member asks the leader a question and the leader refers the  
                                             question back to the person who originally responsible.
            -Relay question        : Occur when the leader refers a question asked by one members to the
                                             entire group.

KEEPING DISCUSSION ON TRACK

Leaders need to get the discussion back on track by using using some techniques.Firstly is remind the group of time pressures.Secondly,summarize and redirect the discussion and also enhance the value of member's comments.To deal with a irrelevant and worthless idea,the leaders can use relevancy challenges.Relevancy challenges is questioning the idea's relevancy.Beside that,keeping the positive tones by keeping potential enemies as allies and gets the job done.Promise to deal with good ideas later and ask questions or paraphrase to clarify understanding is another way to keep off irrelevant ideas.Paraphrasing accomplish two things.firstly is provides a way to double-check the understanding.Secondly is an invitation for the other person to explain the idea in more detail.

CONCLUDING THE MEETING

There are three times when a meeting should be closed.Firstly is when the scheduled closing time is arrived.This is to prevent members from drifting off to other commitment,losing attention and becoming resentful.Secondly when the group lack resources to continue.Lastly when the agenda has been covered.

 HOW TO CONCLUDE A MEETING

A good conclusion has 3 parts.Signal when the time is almost up.Secondly is summarized the meeting's accomplishments and future actions.Be sure to set a new meeting date.Lastly is thank the group.This is to show that you appreciate the group efforts.

FOLLOWING UP THE MEETINGS

-Follow up to make sure that the desired results have really been obtained.
-Involves 3 steps:
(a) Build an agenda for the next meeting.
(b) Follow up on other members.
(c) Take care of your own assignments.

Effective Meeting

Types of Meetings
Meetings fall into three categories. First categories are Information-Sharing Meetings. Information-Sharing Meetings is a weekly meeting of all corporate and top executive to keep them up-to-date on the activities of the more than 20 divisions the company has around the world. Second type is problem-solving or decision-making meeting. Problem-solving or decision-making meeting are the most challenging types of group activity. Third type of meeting is ritual activities.

Technology for Virtual Meetings
Many services now provide free tools that allow groups to meet and share information on the Web. Despite the setting and apparently unbusinesslike activity, however, these meeting server several important purposes. First, they reaffirm the member’s commitment to one another and to the company. Choosing to socialize with one another instead of rushing home is a sign of belonging and caring. Second, the sessions provide a chance to swap useful ideas and stories that might not be appropriate in the office. Finally, ritual meeting can be a kind of perk that confers status on the members. ‘Progress review committee’ members charge expenses to the company and leave work early to attend. Thus, being invited to join the sessions is a sign of having arrived in the company.

Virtual Meetings
The term meeting conjures up images of people seated around a table, transacting business. But technology has made meetings possible even when the participants are half a world apart. Virtual meetings can take several forms. Teleconferences and videoconferences are most important in virtual meetings. With that you can call other numbers members in meeting, users in distant locations to see one another. Teleconference and videoconference has basic guideline will help the meeting smoothly. Guideline first is before meeting, send your agenda and copies of any document that will be discussed to all participants. Numbers pages of longer document to avoid unnecessary paper shuffling. Second guideline is at the beginning of meeting, have participants introduce themselves and state their location. Third guideline is in phone conversations, parties should identify themselves whenever necessary to avoid confusion. Finally guideline is avoided interrupting others or leaving out persons simply because you can’t see them.

Conducting the meeting

Time is used efficiently, the tone is constructive, and the quality of ideas is good. For beginning the meeting, first, they give everyone a clear picture of what is to be accomplished. Second, they define how the group will try to reach its goal. Finally, they set the stage for good teamwork and, thus, good result. Identify the goals of the meeting means repeating the information listed in the agenda, but mentioning it here will remind everyone of the meeting’s goals and help to focus the discussion. Provide necessary background information is explains the context of the meeting and gives everyone the same picture of the subject being discussed. Show now the group can help is outline the contributions that members can make during the meeting. Identify than constraints the clarify how much time is available to prevent wasting time.

Members can be leader, too

Member can also play an important role in making a meeting successful. Following these guidelines will get your meeting off to a good start. If the meeting are not in charge, the others member also can make sure that the opening is a good one by asking questions.

Conducting business

Someone either the leader or a responsible member has to be sure that all important business is covered in a way that takes advantage of the talents of everyone present. Parliamentary procedure is a set of rules that governs the way groups conduct business and make decisions in meetings. When to use parliamentary procedure, there are several situations when parliamentary procedure is an appropriate way to operate a meeting. One of the procedure is when a group will be of interest to an external audience, they observers can learn about input of each member and the decisions made by the group as a whole.

Effective Meeting

Opting Out Of Meeting

May consider using one of the following strategies to make your nonattendance acceptable. provide written input (memo or written report may be a good substitute for your physical acceptance), suggest a productive alternative (exchanging of email,teleconferencing or delegating the job to a smaller group), tell the truth (choose to explain your reason).

Agenda For Your Team Meeting

Are Misunderstanding or Reservation Likely?

Meeting are necessary when confusing or controversial information is being communicated. Only by talking out their complaints and hearing why the new policy is being instituted will employees see a need to go along with new procedure.

Setting An Agenda

An agenda is the list of topics to be covered in a meeting.You can start building an agenda by asking three question."What we need to do in the meeting to achieve our objective?" ,"What conversation will be important to the people who attend?" or " What information will we needed to begin?".

Participant

The overall size of the group is important. If the agenda is includes one or more problem solving items, its best to keep the size small so that everyone can participate in discussion. If the a meeting is primarily informational, a larger group may be acceptable.

Background Information

Participant will need background information to give them new details or to remind them of things may have forgotten.

Goals

A good agenda goes beyond just listing topics and describes the goals for discussion. Most people have at least a vague idea however often lead to vague meeting. Useful at least in two ways. First, identify those who bought to attend the meeting. Second, specific goals also help the people who do attend to prepare the meeting

Pre-meeting Work

The best meeting occur when people have done all the necessary advance work. The agenda is a good place to tell member how to prepare for the meeting.