The power of three is universal; the tripartite nature of the world is heaven, earth, and water.

Life itself is birth, life and death. It is the beginning, middle and end. Three is a complete cycle unto itself; it is past, present and future. And, yes, successful meetings have three essential elements.

A good meeting, whether of the Board of a multinational, or a fundraising committee of your local basketball team, will always have 3 essential components:

1. There must be a reason to meet

This expresses itself in the form of an Agenda; a list of topics to discuss. Generally attendees will know what the meeting topics are before the meeting, and be in agreement with them.

2. There needs to be a record of the meeting’s proceedings; Minutes

Without accepted Minutes there could be future disagreements between participants about who said what, and what was agreed, or not agreed, on a particular matter. Minutes are also a record for future meeting participants, regulatory authorities, or appropriate parties with an interest in the entity and its meeting(s).

3. And here’s the sucker-punch….

For a meeting to be effective and successful, follow up Actions are required. Some follow up Actions can be internal, such as determining a view on a particular matter, where one is required, and did not exist prior to the meeting; eg a policy on safety. Other follow up Actions are explicit, and require one or more individuals to do certain actions outside the meeting to realise particular objectives.

Without internal, or explicit, follow up Actions, the meeting was simply people talking, and not going anywhere.

Successful meetings rely on having each of these components, and if any one of them are missing then, like the three-legged stool, the whole enterprise will not function properly.

The new secure, Cloud-based platform at www.OurCatHerder.com automates and manages these three components, with flexible Agenda-making, easy & real-time Minute-taking, and a follow up Action-tracker tool that ensures every meeting realises a purposeful outcome.

OurCatherder.com will improve any meeting’s effectiveness, ensuring the systemised management of Agendas, Minutes and Follow up Actions (and a whole lot more).