To summarize the meeting for your colleagues in the previous scenario, write up the meeting minutes. Each of you in the group should prepare the minutes separately. Then, as a group, compare your minutes. Which are best and why?

Scenarios:

Scenario 1 

Imagine that you are a dean at your college and you want to expand your student advisory board. Currently, four students are elected to the board every year, but you want to add four to increase diversity and get more perspectives. You also have two new initiatives coming up next year—an alumni weekend event and a student blog—and both require more students to help. Invite the current board members to a meeting to discuss and vote on the proposal.

Scenario 2 

Imagine that you work as a sales associate for your local Gap store. The work schedule is always set a month in advance, but you want more flexibility. You ask the four other sales associates in the store to meet with you so you can convince them to plan the schedule only one week in advance. You would need the store manager’s approval to do this, but you decide to get your coworkers on board first.