Open communication forms a core value in every organization. Sharing information within and between departments and with colleagues is vital to keeping everyone informed and aligned.
There are plenty of ways to share information today such as phone calls, emails, and even the traditional snail mail, with instant messaging being the quickest and most popular approach.
But when you are part of an organization, you want to avoid the risk of inconsistencies and loss of time. To this end, traditional meetings are still the full-proof way of information sharing.
What is Information Sharing?
Information sharing is when information is passed from one individual to another. There are plenty of ways of information dissemination, with new methods being adopted by organizations.
Information sharing in a company is typically done by scheduling and calling for a meeting. There is also a dedicated “Announcement” corner where all the updates are posted for everyone to see.
With technology being at the heart of information sharing, various innovative tools like group chats, emails, social media posts, and virtual conferences have become the new norm.
The 7 Golden Rules of Information Sharing
When sharing information, always be mindful of the 7 golden rules of information sharing:
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is not a barrier to sharing information.
- Be open and honest.
- Seek advice.
- Share with consent where appropriate.
- Consider safety and well-being.
- Necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely, and secure.
- Keep a record.
Best Methods of Information Sharing
The purpose of most meetings is sharing information, giving instructions, or tracking progress on specific projects and tasks.
The manner in which this information is exchanged is pertinent to the success of any meeting.
As you plan your meeting, it is crucial to think of the best methods and mediums in which you can share information.
Here are a few proven methods on how to share information:
By Using PowerPoint Presentations
PowerPoint presentations are best used in a situation when you need to share information with a large audience, especially if you also have virtual participants.
It would help if you keep the presentation short and to the point. It is also best to avoid long paragraphs and complicated sentences, and to make everything understandable, consider using bullet points to break down your information.
If you are comparing statistics, consider using a bar graph or pie chart to illustrate differences, gains, or losses. After your meeting, you can share the presentation as part of your meeting minutes so that your participants can have the presentation to refer to if needed.
Remember, the meeting room should be set up so that all participants have a clear view of the projector or LED screen. You will also need to have a clear phone line if you have virtual participants dialing into the meeting.
When speaking, project your voice loud enough for all to hear. If you are soft-spoken, you should use a microphone.
By Distributing Handouts
Handouts are best used for small intimate meetings.
In some cases, you can consider using a flipchart or whiteboard in addition to the handouts. And if you’re sharing information through handouts, only include pertinent information; key points should be sufficient.
This leaves more room for discussion as opposed to your participants spending most of the meeting reading through a long and cumbersome handout. After all, your handout should not be a book! In the interest of being green, keep handouts concise so that you’re not wasting paper.
All things considered, regardless of which method you choose, your manner of sharing information should be tailored to your audience and appropriate for the type of information you want to share.
Handling Recurring Meetings Using AgreeDo
Recurring meetings are those that are scheduled and repeated in regular intervals. This can be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
It is easy to forget to schedule yet another meeting. That’s why using an application like AgreeDo can make things far more uncomplicated and manageable.
To understand how recurring meetings work in AgreeDo, you first need to know how meetings work in general in AgreeDo.
The first step to prepare a meeting with AgreeDo is to create an agenda and send it to the meeting attendees. During the meeting, you can add new items and comments, so you have your meeting minutes ready at the end of the meeting.
Usually, the next step is to create a follow-up meeting. There is a button on the top of each agenda to do this. This allows you to take the items from your meeting minutes to the agenda of a new meeting.
This allows you to keep the points that you want to follow up on or discuss again and drop the issues that are resolved or don’t need further discussion.
One important thing to know is that tasks created in one meeting and copied to the follow-up meeting are linked to the two meetings. So if you add comments to the task or change its progress, it will show up in both meetings.
This even works if you have a task in more than two meetings in a row. You will always see the latest status of a task.
Here are the steps on how you can handle your recurring meetings within AgreeDo:
- Prepare your agenda with all the essential topics once.
- During the meeting, take your meeting minutes.
- After the meeting minutes are finished, create a follow-up meeting and import all topics regularly.
- Continue on step 2.
AgreeDo also has a plugin for Outlook if this is your primary email management tool, so you can enjoy this meeting management software within your messaging system.
Conclusion
Sharing information is vital for ensuring that an organization’s members are on the same page. With the wide range of platforms available, efficiently disseminating information has become much easier.
By using the right tool, you can have more productive recurring meetings where you can share all the updates and news with every member of your team.