Importance Of Informal Meetings

Meetings can be formal or informal, depending upon the issue being discussed. Informal meetings tend to be spontaneous and with no set agenda, are in a relaxed environment (such as at a colleague’s desk) and can be one-on-one. The topics covered in an informal meeting can vary, from discussion on things such as employee absence or illness, working days or minor employee grievance issues, as well as a short overview of recent news/ information that certain employees would need to know in order to carry out their work in an informed manner. Formal meetings tend to take place in an environment that denotes the more serious tone of the discussion – places such as official meeting rooms or management offices – and can be internal (management

Communication when setting up dates and venues is crucial, and it must be made clear to each individual, and confirmation of their presence must be received and recorded. After the crucial details have initially been set, each party must be able to get to the meeting, and should the time scale be long, refreshments and administrative support (e.g. pens, clipboards, PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets and such, hand-outs of figures/ upcoming plans for the company, recording devices etc.) must be provided, and records of the meeting and its outcomes must be kept and sent to everyone involved. Anyone involved in a formal company meeting may need to travel, as companies can be organised across an entire country or a number of countries. Participants may, then, be required to travel by plane, public or private coach, car (personal or any company vehicles provided), train or ship in order to get to the meeting venue. These routes of travel will require pre-booking and the company will need to access its own funds in order to get its employees, management and directors to the place where their presence is required. Once they have arrived, accommodation may be needed, especially

Hard copies are anything physical, tangible and easy to pass around and physically replicate/ photocopy. The disadvantage of hard copies, however, is that they are not easy to edit – writing on or erasing information on a printed document can ruin its quality. Hard copy versions of diary systems allow for a single copy that only one person of authority can edit and pass around to the workforce and any invitees to events. Printed versions of documents are easy to physically steal from a building, are easily damaged, and provide an environmental hazard by wasting paper that could have otherwise been