Freedom Requirements For Public Meetings

Types of Meeting

Discuss about the Freedom Requirements For Public Meetings.

Code of practice is a guideline prepared by a professional association for its members to help them understand the ethical standards and comply with them. The purpose of this code is to support economic, political and social integrity of business entity and industry, protect customer rights, and encourage equal employment opportunity for all without discrimination. Meeting codes of practice include:

• Freedom of speech must be respected for every one attending the meeting
• The code of practice must be followed by all the attendees of the meeting
• A due notice should be given to all the expected participant if any meeting has to be held
• Meeting venue must have the arrangements to ensure safety and health of participants at the time of meeting
• If the meeting chairperson is not present in the meeting for some reason then a chairman must be chosen before conducting the meeting
• It is the duty of the meeting chairperson to ensure that meeting is conducted in a lawful manner
• Minutes of the meeting must have correct records of all the details and discussions and must be signed by participants
• The agenda of the meeting must be prepared in advance and must be distributed to participants before the meeting
• If any confidential information has to be shared over email to anyone for meeting then it should be put in the attachment rather than on the email body
• People who are unable to attend the meeting and their participation is of importance to the issue discussed, must inform the organizer about the absence
• In the event of cancellation of the meeting,, participants must be informed a week in advance for normal meetings and 24 hours in advance for emergency meetings
• Any change in the agenda after informing participants must be communicated in the form of an addendum
• If any fact or information has to be discussed in the meeting which needs preparation from a potential participant then it is the responsibility of the participant to get all the necessary documents or facts collected before the meeting and must bring the evidences in the meeting
• The questions that are asked by the participants must be relevant to the topics of discussion, must have rational considerations and should not hurt the sentiments of any other participant

Based on the needs for the codes of conduct, certain procedures can be established for meetings such as:

• A formal invitation with identified key discussion topics must go to the participants 7 days prior to the meeting for a reminder and information update on the meeting agenda
• A minute taker must be hired who should be made responsible for noting the details of event and highlights of discussion during event. This minute would be sent to all the participants post the meeting within a week of completion of the meeting. 

Legislations that can affect meetings include:

Health and Safety Requirements: The condition and provisions in the meeting room must be safe and healthy for the participants. This requires a company to ensure that all safety and health requirements are met by the venue that is chosen for meeting such as existence of emergency evacuation, fire extinguisher, first aid kits, quality air, well lit environment, and provision of water and snacks. This would affect the choice of venue where a meeting has to be conducted which would in turn affect the transportation needs and costs to the company.

Organization requirements: The Company conducting meeting must make arrangements for booking, progress recording, accommodation or transport if needed, catering, and relevant documentation. As per this legislation, any company conducting meeting would have some obligations like hiring a minute taker, having a booking system, a place for notice or information sharing, and making of catering arrangements.  This would affect the procedures and budget of the meeting (ISC, 2012).

Public meetings need to follow some legislative requirements such as:

• A notice has to be given to all the members who can attend with details like meeting time, meeting place, and principle subjects that are likely to be covered in the meeting
• The information about the meeting may be given through press releases or direct mails to news organizations, local media, neighbouring associations, chambers of commerce, and community organizations.
• The notice given to the public must have not less than 24 hours time except the emergency meetings that can be called within 24 hours(ORS, 2017).

• The minutes must have details like starting and adjourning time, date and place of meeting, members of institution conducting meeting, statements on issues discussed, purpose of the session, and attendees of the session
• The minutes must be prepared and posted within 7 days after the meeting is over on the organization website. For emergency meeting, this duration is 72 hours and in case of voting results, it can be 42 hours(FOIC, 2008)

• Meeting standards for specific region or country must be explored and accordingly agenda, standards, and processes must be set
• Legal requirements must be followed based on cite laws, quorum requirements, procedural rules, and archival requirements

Before the meeting can be conducted, there would be some requirements that are needed to be completed for organizing the meeting event and these include:

• The purpose off the meeting must be identified and based on it the items in the agenda have to be prepared
• Meeting participants are chosen and are assigned roles in the meeting
• The decision on the venue and timing of the location has to be decided
• The processes that would be used for making decisions in the meeting are needed to be explored and the most appropriate process must be selected from voting, leaders choice, or group consensus
• The attendance of all the participants must be verified before attendance and they should be informed about their roles
• Key participants who would need to present in the meeting must have details of agenda and must prepare themselves
• The venue has to be verified to ensure that it has all the required facilities including safety provisions, meeting equipments, meeting arrangements, lightning, and air supply and it is available at the time of the meeting   

The resources that are required to conduct a meeting include:

• Seating arrangement as per the need of the meeting
• Catering facility including drinks and snacks sufficient in quantity for serving all participants
• Meeting equipments like projector, Screen, Mic, computer, server, extension, and electrical sockets
• Facilities for convenience, safety, and health of participants including Air Conditioner, Safety Kit, and Fire Extinguisher.
• Funds must be available to pay for the venue, administrative tasks, and catering
• Human resources are needed to play the roles of meeting leader, organizer, receptionist and minute taker

There can be difference in the way people from different cultures view time. In some cultures, the people do not respect time wastage and can be rude to people coming late. Such cultures are called monochromatic such as Japan. In these cultures, people do not welcome any interruptions during the meeting while in other cultures people could be more welcoming and relaxing such as Latin America and Middle East. This can cause conflicts between people from opposing cultures. To avoid or minimize such conflicts, some steps can be taken such as:

• Allotting specific time for questions in the agenda itself such that people can only ask questions in that time
• Specifying in the age and the last time to take entries that should be 15 minutes before the start of the event and do not welcome entries post that

Another challenge can arise due to the differences in behaviour and attitude of people such that what is considered good in one culture may not be appreciated in another culture. One of the reasons for such differences could be due to the difference in the power distance which if high will have people more respecting to authority and unwilling to listen to people from lower hierarchy such as in China while with low power distance countries, people are treated equal such as in USA. Conflicts can arise if a senior participant from a high power distant country is interrupted or opposed by another person who is a junior and from a low power distance country. Such conflicts can be avoided or at least minimized by taking following steps:

• Company can allot specific time for presenting opposing views where everyone is forced to push their sceptic views and none would feel offended. The Six Hat thinking system can be used in the meeting to ensure this is used
• Everyone should be given specified minutes for speaking with points to speak which can include positive as well as negative views such that all views are presented without raising conflicts 

References

FOIC, 2008. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: Public Meetings Guide, Connecticut: FOIC.

ISC, 2012. Manage meetings, s.l.: Australian GOvernment.

ORS, 2017. FAQ on Notice Requirements for Public Meetings , s.l.: LEAGUE OF OREGON CITIES.