Meeting Management / Support Playbook
Meeting Management / Support Playbook

Meeting Management / Support Playbook

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Playbook written by A Team Overseas — Work with Executive Assistants trusted by leaders from OnDeck, Levels Health, and YC backed startups. Subscribe to our newsletter here to make sure you more playbooks and tips to level up your delegation!

🌎 Overview

Meetings are a crucial component of every business or organization. These could include 1:1s, team meetings, board meetings, client meetings, and so on. Your client needs to organize meetings (both virtual and in-person), but may not have enough time to sit down and work out the details. As a result, your client may require your assistance in this area the most. You can perform this task for them on a regular basis.

📝 Types of Meetings

While meetings can be virtual or in-person, there also other categories of meetings that will affect the frequency, participants of the meetings, and how to iron out details in setting them up.

Knowing the type of meeting your client will have should help you understand the purpose, so you can gauge the needs of your client and give them the proper support to better maximize the meeting’s efficiency.

  • Status Update Meetings
    • As the name suggests, this is to keep the parties up-to-date on a certain project or task. It is intended to make sure the project is moving forward while also holding all participants accountable for their commitments.
    • If you are joining the meeting (or your client forwards to you the recording of the meeting), you should have the following:
      • Progress of the project
      • Overview of successes, failures, and blockers
      • Decisions to address challenges
      • Post-meeting action items with clearly defined duties
  • Brainstorming Meetings
    • Used to generate new ideas or connect novel or innovative concepts that will increase enthusiasm for the initiative, which will motivate additional efforts.
    • After the meeting, the participants should have developed numerous project ideas and challenge the group’s creativity.
  • Info-Sharing Meetings
    • Similar to Status Update meetings, this meeting is where the host shares information with participants such as company news, incoming changes, new processes or protocols, new services or products.
    • This is also where the company educates the team in-depth on pertinent topics, especially those that are better shared through meetings than in writing (i.e. email, internal messaging).
    • Could be done through a presentation, webinar, training, or conference.
    • As your client’s EA and if your client is the host or a speaker, you can help with the following:
      • Prepare the agenda
      • Create the deck or presentation with visual aids
      • Generate questions for audience engagement
      • Set up polls and surveys to catch their attention
      • Source speakers
  • Decision-Making Meetings
    • This is when an action needs to be taken by a group. This includes presenting options to a leader who will make the final decision. Participants included in this kind of meetings should be subject matter experts or principal decision-makers.
    • At the end of the meeting, the team should have a detailed understanding of the options. This means there should be a structure agenda and all the available information provided is accurate. As an EA whose client may host Decision-Making meetings, you should help with gathering the pertinent information.
    • Examples include organizational changes, final approval of a product, or choosing the branding of the company.
  • Problem-Solving Meetings
    • This meeting is quite similar to the Decision-Making meeting, but this time, the team gets to the root cause of the issue and how to find the optimal solution to the problem. Examples of issues include high employee turnover and operational problems. This could also be a response to an incident or looking ahead at potential challenges and possible ways to mitigate or solve them.
  • Team-Building Meetings
    • Focuses on getting a better understanding of each team member to strengthen teamwork, cohesion, and trust. Team-Building Meetings increase team engagement, lead to increased productivity, and contribute to employee happiness.
    • Aims to create a fun and interactive atmosphere.
    • You can help in creating an agenda, games, and other exercises or activities.
  • One-on-One Meetings
    • As the name implies, this meeting is between two people to discuss something specific.
    • Examples of One-on-One meetings are performance reviews and check-ins.
    • Usually an agenda isn’t required but a document on what each person wants to discuss can be generated.
  • Quarterly Planning Meetings

🗓️ Scheduling a meeting

While considerable work is done during the meeting itself, scheduling meetings also requires a lot of effort (and time). You must be efficient and detail-oriented as your client's right hand in order to plan meetings on a regular basis.

Meeting preparation involves meticulous planning. You must carefully create, check, and distribute meeting invitations to avoid scheduling errors, difficulties, and a negative reflection on your client.

Barriers to Scheduling Meetings

Some barriers to effective meeting scheduling may include:

  • Determining a time that works for everyone
    • Internal meetings are easier to schedule since meeting participants will most likely make time or move their schedule for meetings with your client especially if they are the head of the company.
    • External meetings can be challenging as it involves people outside the organization such as another CEO. Their calendars are often full and alignment of available date and time may be hard.
    • If you have access to your client’s external contact, check their availability. If not, contact them or their assistant to get access to their calendar or ask about their availability.
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      Tip: For large meetings (i.e. board meetings), you can use calendar tools such as Doodle. It helps with booking meetings with large groups — the tool makes it simple to sort through available times and find persons who are available "if need be" at specified times. You can also send out reminders to attendees to ensure that they arrive on time for the meeting.
  • Having to plan meetings at short notice
    • Meetings scheduled on short notice usually doesn’t give participants time to attend and/or prepare for the meeting. As much as possible, inform them on what to expect during the meeting.
    • To make it as productive and engaging as possible, send out an agenda and tell everyone ahead of time the meeting topic.
  • Consider different time zones

📓Process for getting client’s preferences

Before you begin scheduling meetings for your client, it is critical to establish their needs and preferences. This phase ensures that the workflow runs more smoothly and efficiently. Here are three measures you should take before and after the client meeting.

1. Meeting with your client.

  • Schedule a meeting with your client for 30 minutes to an hour. Let your client know what the meeting will be about so that they can also prepare.

2. List of questions.

  • Have a list of questions handy. These questions are going to be your guide so you can determine your client’s preferences and pain points. This is also another way of getting to know your client better.
  • Examples of questions:
    • What’s your preferred type of meeting (in-person or remote) for different categories of people (professional, family, friends)?
    • What time of day do you prefer to hold meetings?
    • What’s your preferred meeting duration based on type of meeting ‣ e.g. Daily standup: 15 minutes, Internal 1-on-1: 40 minutes, etc)?
    • Do you prefer to have buffer times for back-to-back meetings or have a break in between meetings? How many minutes?
    • How frequently do you want to meet with (person)?
    • How many meetings do you want to have in a week?
    • How close together do you want meetings to be?
    • Do you prefer virtual meetings with or without cameras?
    • Do you want recordings for virtual meetings?
    • Do you want me to take down minutes during the meeting?
    • Any recurring meetings that I should know about and schedule for you?
    • Which invitations should I always accept or decline?
    • How do you want me to notify you of scheduled meetings?
    • Any other things I should do or prepare when you have meetings?
  • Other general preferences you should ask your client:
    • Visual preferences (color coding)
    • Optimal meeting size
    • Preferred tool for video meetings
    • Format for meeting invitations such as:
      • Preferred naming convention ‣ one naming convention across the board or varies by meeting type? (e.g. [Name of Guest] - [goal of meeting])
    • Video meeting preferences ‣ use password for entry? EA to join & assist?
    • Attachments/links ‣ include links to docs (e.g. slide deck, meeting bio, agenda checklist) within meeting invitations?
    • In-person meeting preferences
      • Preferred meeting types - e.g. lunch for personal, coffee for business
      • Preferred locations - e.g. local or frequently-visited locations when traveling

3. Create a Preference List file for reference purposes.

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