Regular meetings are crucial

Meetings are an opportunity for group members to develop and work through their ideas, as well as keep in touch!

Your very first meeting is a chance for potential members to get to know each other and decide whether they really want to be involved. You could start by asking people to introduce themselves in turn. Then have a brief discussion about the issue and the purpose of the group. Be sure to encourage everyone to participate but don't try to make too many decisions at this initial meeting.

Once you've created your team and started getting together regularly, you can use meetings to start getting things done! It is always a good idea to have meetings at a regular time and place so that people can make arrangements to attend.

Set goals for every meeting and write them down in an agenda. An agenda is a list of things you want to cover and decisions you want to make.

Choose someone to run or lead the meeting. This person should make sure everyone has their say, but should also keep the discussion focused and move it on if the group is spending too much time on details.

Remember that you will also need a person to take notes of what is said and decided during the meeting. These need to be written up and distributed afterwards.

Here is a sample ample agenda that you can adapt for your own meetings!

Agenda for Streetwise meeting, 2 December 2015, 17.00-18.00

Facilitator: Maria

Items:

• Introductions. Welcoming of new members. Maria — 5 minutes
• Update on action/progress/developments since last meeting, and review of last meeting. Ngozi — 5 minutes
• Brainstorm ideas for activities. Tamana to facilitate — 20 minutes (See Brainstorming)
• Invite volunteers/nominations for club president, secretary and treasurer, to be appointed at next meeting. Ngozi — 10 minutes
• Any further business (questions or subjects for discussion from members). Maria -15 minutes
• Confirm date and time of next meeting.
• Snacks and drinks, or just time to talk!