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HOSTING A MEETING
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CHECKLIST
FOR PLANNING A
CALIFORNIA MONITORS' NETWORK MEETING
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Plan the meeting date(s).
Most meetings are a day and a half, but they may be shorter or
longer, depending on how many agenda items there will be. If you
expect quite a few staff from Local Workforce Investment Areas (LWIA's)
to drive in daily, schedule the beginning and ending times to
accommodate commuting time.
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Make facilities
arrangements. Some LWIA's have enough space to conduct the meeting
on-site, while others prefer to charge a fee to house it at a hotel.
You can also reserve a block of rooms for attendees, and inquire if
special rates would be made available to them. If taking place at
the LWIA office, luncheon arrangements should be made for the group,
as valuable networking takes place during meals. It is nice (but
optional) to have refreshments available at the meeting. Coffee,
tea, juice, water are pretty standard in the morning, and sodas are
nice in the p.m. Hotels often agree to throw these in with the
facility/lunch fee.
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Plan the program. The Network president, can help
you survey members to identify topics of interest. Or you may
come up with your own ideas for presenters or exercises. Although we
primarily deal with monitoring, that encompasses anything to make us
more effective in our jobs, and may cover a wide range of ideas.
Sometimes local expertise is available. If you have a topic idea but
do not know who could address it, the Employment Training Network
[(916)654-8896] has a speakers’ bureau for various subjects. They
can also reimburse expenses of speakers, but this must be approved
by ETN in advance, and we try to persuade speakers to attend without
charging us. We have also made arrangements with EDD’s Capacity
Building Unit to provide staff to speak. Other formats can be
valuable as well, such as round-table discussions, panels, group
exercises, etc. It is preferable to have your director welcome the
group; directors are usually impressed by the Network’s size and
nature, which helps to "sell" the viability and
credibility of the group (giving you more latitude to attend
in the future). Provide time during the meeting for Network
business, usually conducted by the president.
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At least six weeks before the meeting date, send
out a tentative agenda to designated contact persons of LWIA's, LA
Primes, and our national members. A mailing list is available from
the Network secretary, Vyvian Timm at 559/737-4246. (Host LWIA's may
also invite other staff from their office, one-stop partners or
service providers if they want). Ask to have responses back by a
date at least three weeks before the meeting. Include in this letter
any information about nearby airports, and if rooms have been
reserved for attendees, provide the phone number for making
reservations. If you are charging a fee to attend, ask for payment
by the date you need to receive it. You might consider making the
registration fee non-refundable after a certain date, since some of
your costs might not be refundable.
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Notify ETN of the scheduled meeting date so they
can include it in their monthly calendar. (See #3 for phone number)
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At least two weeks before the meeting, send a
second mailing to those who have responded that they are coming.
This should include a "final" agenda, map/directions to
the facility, and any other information you think would be of
interest about the area for sight-seeing after meetings. Sometimes
it’s fun to organize post-meeting excursions or social hours for
interested members. (Valuable networking can occur then).
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The host LWIA is responsible for making any
copies of materials to be handed out at the meeting. Check with
presenters if they need to have any copying done. Also check with
them to see if they need special equipment, such as overhead
projector, podium, power point, table, etc. Special arrangements may
have to be made with the hotel if meeting there.
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On the day of the meeting have a check-in table,
with handouts if available. Having pre-printed name tags, with name and
LWIA, is a nice touch.
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Relax and enjoy the program!
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