In Focus

Agendas: Overrated or a Nest Necessity?

Note: This article focuses on Step 2 of Running Smoothly. Other steps are addressed in articles listed at the bottom of this page.

Get a group of 10 enthusiastic women together eager to catch up on everything from their respective stock research to the birth of their sister's first child, and you're bound to experience a computer meltdown. (Okay, okay. so it was MY sister, and she had a beautiful baby boy on October 9th named Pasquale. He's healthy and hairy and well, I HAD to get this in somewhere!) Suddenly your carefully scheduled Sunday evening meeting goes from 30 minutes to 3 hours. If you're anything like me, time is of the essence and the quicker you get the logistics out of the way the quicker you can get back to your non-investment life. Those who are feeling chatty can always hang around after and catch up. but business before pleasure is the rule. We do it out of respect for each other's schedules, and it's truly the only way to keep your club running smoothly.

To begin, you must set the date and time of your meetings. The Chicks meet the first Sunday of every month. Obviously there are times when some of us have other obligations and it is understood that exceptions can be made in those instances. But don't push it. Each one of us owes it to the others to put in a certain amount of time and effort, including attendance at meetings. The consensus in our club is to allow for 2 missed meetings per year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting the likes of fire and brimstone if you're AWOL a few times, but you just might have to buy a round of drinks at our next face-to-face.

In the week prior to a meeting we all post suggested topics on the message boards. Chick Karin then plans the agenda based on which topics are pertinent (what shoes you should wear to an upcoming function doesn't count). The agenda is then posted and we are all required to print it out, so we're all on the same page (literally) during the meeting.

What you set in your agenda all depends on what you want to accomplish. For the meetings where we're looking to buy a stock, we handle the bulk of information on our message boards. Each Chick is responsible for putting their company through the Chicks Dozen and posting it in the weeks prior to the Sunday night vote. This preemptive approach allows us to thoroughly understand the different companies and begin our own decision making process before we meet. The productivity of these meetings is automatically elevated when we come prepared and knowledgeable. (Knowledge is power, right?)

Other topics we might discuss in a meeting could include an upcoming face-to-face meeting, or whether or not we are all following up on our companies on a regular basis. Sometimes, if there aren't a lot of major issues to cover, it becomes a great forum for us to express our thoughts and ideas about future meetings or current happenings within the market.

Once the meeting is called to order, the person in charge (in our case, Chick Karin. she so loves to be in Charge. I think it's that whole "Napoleon" thing) asks everyone to name the company they're interested in purchasing and why. The company/companies leading in votes then get discussed, and votes are tallied. We go by majority rule in our club, so 6 votes makes a winner. Normally this whole process takes approximately ten minutes, and we're done. Occasionally it'll take longer, especially when there are two really fantastic companies and it becomes a little more difficult to decide. But even then, 30 minutes tops.

Essentially having an agenda makes your meeting more fluid, more productive, and less chaotic. What more can you ask for from a meeting? If you don't believe me, just try it.

Then save the link to this article under your "favorites" so you'll know just where to go when you find out I'm right. And remember the Chicks Agenda philosophy: Chicks who fly by the seat of their pants often find themselves with wind-burned cheeks. Have fun!!

Articles focusing on the Running Smoothly

Step 1: Operating Procedures

Step 2: Agendas

Step 3: On-Line Meetings

Step 4: Chick Rules

Step 5: Meeting Minutes

Step 6: The I.R.S.