Comments on: How to Run A Meeting

on 5/21/2008 Thanks for the article about meetings. I think if more people in the corporate world followed these steps we'd have fewer and more productive meetings - both of which are severely lacking in the corporations today.

on 1/31/2008 I like the bit about old business. When I was on city councils, it sometimes smelled like something the dog left. On one, we had a "consent agenda" and then new business, finishing with a question from the chair whether there was unfinished business. Another council I served on had old business-new business. In my experience, unfinished business could be business from the current meeting as well as something laid on the table six meetings back. In my experience, specific bodies have their own requirements and establish their own agenda forms. It doesn't matter what you call it as long as you take care of what you started doing in the past before you start a lot of new stuff.

on 1/30/2008 "Old business" is what the neighbor's dog left on your lawn. The correct reference is "unfinished business." While this seems like nit picking, the term "old business" invites members to discuss items already decided and disposed of by the assembly. "Unfinished business" invites members to tie up loose ends and complete the work of the assembly.