Running Good Meetings - ARCHIVED

Deprecated content

This content might be obsolete as the page was archived following deprecation of the concept of FINOS Programs in early 2020. For the latest on FINOS Corporate Governance please refer to the FINOS website while for the Community Governance check the FINOS Community Github Repository and specifically see here more information on FINOS Meetings Procedures.

Regular meetings are a key feature of most FINOS programs and working groups. Here is the typical process:

1. Schedule the meetings

Find a day and time that works for all or most participants. FINOS recommends that working groups and PMCs meet at least monthly.

Once you have a meeting time, contact the Foundation to schedule a recurring Webex meeting. (We don't recommend using other conference solutions as firewall restrictions may prevent members from joining.)

2. Prepare and circulate an agenda

Before each meeting, create an agenda (using the Meeting Minutes page template) listing the topics to be discussed and decisions to be made at the meeting, and circulate the agenda on the group's mailing list.

See this sample agenda for an example.

3. Keep minutes

The minutes of each meeting should capture all of the following:

Roll call - everyone who attended the meeting
For each agenda item:
1. A brief summary of the matter discussed (one sentence is often enough)
2. Any significant positions/proposals put forward (one sentence each is often enough)
3. A record of any decisions made or actions taken, including a record of the vote (i.e. votes in favor, votes against, and abstentions)
Any action items assigned, including the assignee and the deadline (if any)

Minutes should not:

Attribute any statement to an individual or organization without their express prior approval. This is to ensure that people feel free to speak candidly.
Include an exhaustive transcript of everything said during the meeting. This is to ensure that the important parts are easy to find.

After the meeting, circulate minutes to the group. This is typically done by updating the wiki page with the meeting agenda, as in these example meeting minutes.

4. Call votes as needed

If any item on the agenda requires a decision by the group, hold a vote. Consult the Program Operations Policy for any program-specific voting rules. If the program uses the default POP, you can follow the Foundation's recommended voting procedure.

The default POP does not require a particular quorum for voting at working group meetings. However, if a meeting is lightly attended, consider holding any votes that are discussed via email after circulating the meeting minutes, to give everyone an opportunity to participate.

Agendas are required

Every meeting must have an agenda and discussions at meetings must be limited to the topics on the agenda, per the Foundation's Antitrust Policy.

Agenda page title and location

To be properly capture automated attendance metrics, the meeting minutes page must be created under the Project or Working Group specific Confluence page and the title must adhere to the following format: “YYYY-MM-DD [WG shortname] WG Meeting Notes”. See example here.

Don't worry if you didn't capture everything!

The Foundation records every working group meeting scheduled through the FINOS Webex infrastructure. Upon request of the working group chair (to h elp@finos.org), we'll order a transcript of the meeting to aid you. (Transcripts take at least 24 hours to prepare from the time of the request and are only available for meetings scheduled via the FINOS Webex or recorded separately by the working group chair.)

Only active participants are eligible to vote

Please see the Active Participation Policy to determine who is eligible.

Best practices for running meetings

The following are a variety of best practices for ensuring meetings are effective:

Ensure a good audio connection. Laptop audio is often worse than a phone call.
Minimize background noise. Mute yourself and (if necessary) other participants when you or they are not speaking.
Open the conference call 5 minutes before the scheduled start time.
Start the meeting 5 minutes after the scheduled start to give people time to join.
Keep the meeting to the agenda. Move off-topic discussions to the agenda for the next meeting, or the mailing list.
If a discussion becomes unproductive, move on. Ask the participants to send their proposals on the mailing list or as agenda items for future meetings.
End the meeting on time, even if you don't get through the agenda, so those with other appointments do not miss important discussions.