Messages are a great way to efficiently communicate with one or many people, and share information that can be referred back to in the future, so when is it best to have a meeting?

• When two or more people need to discuss opinions to and share perspectives.

• If information needs to be communicated that may result in many questions.

• When information needs to be presented to a group by more than one person.

• To build or strengthen a team, or to convey importance/urgency in a personal way.

We've all had great meetings that are engaging and we leave with a sense of achievement, but I'm sure we've all had the opposite too. One thing that makes a real difference is how everyone you are on a call with acts, online meetings are never quite the same as being in person but there are some things we can do to get the most out of them:

• Behave as you would in person 

• Be on time, or even early

• Minimize distractions

• Don't talk over others

• If you can't make a meeting or will be late, please let people know in advance

We use Google Calendar to schedule all meetings.
All internal meetings use this calendar which can be added to your own using the + in the bottom right of the screen - INT MEETINGS

When creating an event there are three important areas :

Title and Time (green) - Create a short but clear title with key information to give a good snapshot of the event. This key information could be the type of meeting e.g. Review, Briefing, Washup. If relating to a specific job, include the job number. Otherwise a few words about the topic will do.

Guests and Meeting type (yellow) - Add all the guests that need to attend, once this is done you should also be able to see when they are free/busy in the calendar.
By default, all meetings create a Teams Meeting link, however if the meeting is in person, please remove this and add the location instead.

Description (blue) - Adding more information here will ensure the meeting can be efficient and that participants understand why the meeting is being held and what the outcome will be. A guide for how best to approach this is in the following section.

To help meetings run smoothly and efficiently, a meeting description should always be added to any meeting when created. If this description contains an overview, simple agenda, and desired outcome of the meeting, all team members will be aligned when entering.
This does not need to be time-consuming, and any time spent creating an agenda will save more time for more people in the meeting. Many meetings can also have simple template agendas that only require quick tweaks.

Overview
This should give people an outline of how the meeting will be run and if any preparation is required before the meeting begins. Some examples are:

1. Discussion around the progress of the wiki. No prep required. 

2. Draft B review. Please review the following sets before the meeting:
   SC04, SC05, SC06

3. Briefing for new project followed by any questions. Please read the brief beforehand.

4. 1 to 1 catchup on your current projects. I would like you to lead this please.

Agenda
The agenda helps to breakdown a meeting into clear sections, giving you the best chance of keeping within the meeting schedule. Some examples are:

1. 10 mins - GT presenting Wiki page about Meetings
   15 mins - group discussion around improvements to be made
   5 mins - Determine responsibilities and deadline for completing Wiki

2. 10 mins per set review.

3. 20 mins - Styleboard and art direction briefing from MWM and GT
   10 mins - Group Q&A

4. 45 mins - Catchup on all projects
   15 mins - Decide on priorities for the next 4 weeks

Outcome (optional)
Noting down the desired outcome of the meeting will help everyone align on the goal. This is less likely to be required for regular meetings where the outcome is clear from the agenda. Examples:

1. Define responsibilities for completing and publishing the wiki with a clear deadline.

2. Review all sets (probably not required as the overview and agenda cover it.)

3. Brief artists to begin project  (probably not required as the overview and agenda cover it.)

4. Align between manager and team member on progress for the coming month.

You can choose “Speedy meetings” option in your Calendar settings. 

Go to Settings > Event Settings and then click the checkbox for speedy meetings. This shortens whichever preset meeting time that you’ve designated by 5 or 10 minutes (depending on the time). So if you have 45-minute meetings as your default, it will block 40 minutes each time you schedule a call.