Organizing project committees to investigate business opportunities and conducting the meetings needed to accomplish the investigation is one of the first tasks of a value-added business project.  By properly structuring the committee and its meetings, you can greatly reduce the time involved in assessing the opportunity and thereby reduce the frustration of the group members.  At the same time, you will increase your chances of coming up with the right answer.

For guidance in creating a productive value-added committee and in conducting business meetings, read Forming a Viable Value-added Project Committee and Holding Successful Meetings.

For more information on this topic, see the links listed below of articles posted on related Web sites.

Meetings

• Making Meetings Manageable – Ohio State University Extension – The tips presented here ensure that meetings start in the right direction and continue to the established goal.
  
• Participating in Meetings – Ohio State University Extension – A key to the productivity of meetings is having the right tool.
  
• Following up after Meetings – Ohio State University Extension – Following a successful meeting you should have assignment, open items, agenda items and notes.
  
• Checklist for Planning a Successful Meeting – University of Missouri Extension -- Much time, energy and other resources go into planning and holding meetings. The purpose of a meeting should be to bring about desired change in a specific group of people or target audience.
  
• How to Organize and Run Effective Meetings – University of Nevada Extension – Meetings are necessary to coordinate individual activity, collaborate on joint projects, garner support for ideas, sell ideas, solve problems collectively, and make consensus based decisions.
  
• Planning and Conducting Effective Public Meetings – Ohio State University Extension -- Local government officials periodically conduct public meetings as part of the process of developing or explaining legislation and regulations.
  
• Lights, Camera, Presentation! Liven Up Boring Meetings With Video – HBS Working Knowledge – A short video can be worth a thousand PowerPoint slides at your next meeting.  And putting together a compelling video is not as difficult as you think.
  
• In Search of the Perfect Meeting - HBS Working Knowledge -- We all know that time is in short supply. That's why you have to make every meeting pay off. Here are strategies for making good meetings better.
  
• Make Every Meeting Count! - Education Resources Information Center -- You have a lot invested in staff time.
  
• Important Structures for Successful Meetings - Small Business Administration -- Successful meetings use structure. Procedures and structure help groups perform significantly better in meetings. Meeting structures are the solid foundation upon which effective meetings are built.
  
• A Short Guide to Consensus Building, An Alternative to Robert's Rules of Order for Groups, Organizations and Ad Hoc Assemblies that Want to Operate By Consensus.
  
• Roundtables – Business.gov -- Roundtables are informal group discussions among professional people who voluntarily serve as information and support resources for each other.

Study Committees

• Developing Effective Study Committees – University of Missouri Extension -- Study committees can generate considerable enthusiasm with recommendations that will help solve a community's problems or assess a business opportunity.
  
• The Study Committee and the Community – University of Missouri Extension -- A study committee will undergo change in knowledge, feelings, thinking and enthusiasm as it explores a problem.

Parliamentary Procedure

• Parliamentary Procedure in the Board Room – Oklahoma State University -- This fact sheet is a reference that provides a basic overview of parliamentary procedure.
• Parliamentary Procedure Quick Reference Guide to Motions – Oklahoma State University -- This fact sheet is a reference that provides a quick guide to common parliamentary motions.
  
• Robert’s Rules of Order Revised - General Henry M. Robert -- Contains modifications and enhancements to the original Robert’s Rules of Order.
  
• Frequently Asked Questions- Robert’s Rules of Order Web Site -- These 20 questions are based on queries repeatedly received.
  
• Question and Answer Forum - Robert’s Rules of Order Web Site -- You may ask specific questions, or suggest answers to questions posted by others, about particular points of parliamentary procedure.
  
• Robert’s Rules of Order Online - RulesOnline.com -- Contains the full text of Robert’s Rules of Order Revised, including lesson outlines and the plan for the study of parliamentary law, along with the added convenience and functionality of index and keyword search.