Agendas & notes. Every meeting has them. Typed out so neatly , bullet points let us know what to expect in what order. Good ones tell us how long each item will last, and who is sharing it. Great ones even tell us WHY it is happening.

Let's look at the typical lifecycle of an agenda:

1. meeting facilitator opens MS Word
2. meeting facilitator types up the bullets in Word
3. meeting facilitator converts Word document to PDF
4. meeting facilitator attaches PDF to an email
5. meeting facilitator sends email to 40 staff members
6. 40 staff members open email
7. 40 staff members each download attachment to their desktop
8. 40 staff members open and view PDF
9. ~20 staff members print the PDF
10. meeting facilitator makes last minute changes to agenda
11. meeting facilitator prints 40 copies of agenda to hand out at meeting
12. **REPEAT STEPS 1-9 FOR MEETING NOTES**
13. (one year later) meeting facilitator looks for the Word document
    on their computer for ideas for the same meeting

Now consider using a DocuShare weblog like this one to share meeting agendas:

1. meeting facilitator opens their previously started "PLC Agenda & Notes Weblog"
2. meeting facilitator clicks "Add Topic" and types this month's agenda items
3. 40 staff members view agenda the day of the PLC meeting
4. During the PLC meeting a designated person with a laptop
   clicks "Add Topic" and types notes while the meeting is taking place.
5. Immediately following the meeting anyone who was absent can view the notes.

The beauty of using a DocuShare Weblog to host your PLC meeting agendas and notes is that it respects the community members. None of them care what program is used to type the notes. Few of them care how it is formatted. All of them care what the bullet points say. It is all about the INFORMATION. This approach allows you to strip it down to what matters most.


For more information about starting a DocuShare weblog, please refer to the LPS DocuShare User's Guide on the page titled WEBLOGS [.pdf].