Meeting Checklist

Meetings are a great way to waste a lot of peoples time. Sometimes though, they are necessary. In such situations it is useful to be prepared.

At a basic level this preparation can be done by being able to answer these questions:
Where is the meeting to be held?
If it is necessary to travel to the location:
What is the address of the building?
What is the contact number for the site if need to advise of any delays, etc.
Are adequate travel directions available?
Where should you go when get on site?
Who do you need to ask for at reception?
Is parking available? If so, where? If not, any suggestions as to where could park?
Anything else that would be useful to know if never been to the site before?
When is the meeting to be held? (Date and Time)
How long is the meeting scheduled for? If an end time isn't defined the meeting is more likely to run on longer than it needs to.
What is the agenda for the meeting? If it is not clear what the meeting is for it's questionable whether the meeting is warranted at all. If it is not clear what the meeting is for it is harder to suitably prepare for it.
Who will be the chair of the meeting? This needs to be defined before the meeting starts so it is clear who is in charge and responsible for the meeting.
Who will be taking minutes? It will be important that everyone is clear about what was decided and who is responsible for what as a result of the meeting. If someone is given the responsibility for making sure that suitable notes are taken and distributed afterwards, there should be no one who is unclear what they have to do as a result of the meeting.
Who will be attending? And Why? it's generally useful to know that everyone who needs to be at a meeting will be there. There's no point going if the people who can answer the questions which will be raised at the meeting will not be there.

N.B. I reserve the right to update and add to this list in the future.