Meetings could be considered a necessary evil of the everyday work life. A poorly organized meeting will not only be a huge time waster, but also ruin your credibility (可信性)with your coworkers. It is vitally important that you learn the basics of conducting a short and well-organized meeting. The single most important thing for you to do before a meeting is to develop an agenda. A meeting without an agenda is pure and utter chaos. Nothing will ever get resolved and the meeting will drag on forever. When you are preparing your agenda, identify the aim of your meeting. Clearly state the focus of the meeting on the agenda. Then list each item to be discussed in order of importance. Give a time limit to each item and list the expected outcome. Distribute the agenda one week before the meeting. Confirm that everyone attending has all the information that they need and the presenters are clear on how much time they are allowed. A couple of hours before the meeting is to begin, send an email to everyone who is attending your meeting. State the starting time of the meeting, the location and the ending time of the meeting. This is so that no one will have an excuse for being late, or worse, forgetting that they have a meeting to attend. On the meeting day, arrive early and confirm that everything needed is in place, such as, chairs, whiteboard and markers, copies of handouts (讲义), coffee, etc. Try not to give all the handouts at the beginning of the meeting, as people tend to read the handouts and ignore the speakers. The best setup for a meeting is a round table where everyone can face each other. This will encourage participation and discourage slacking (懈怠) or falling asleep. Start on time. Move the meeting along according to the agenda. When presenting, stick to the timedistributed on the agenda. Say what you need to say in short straightforward sentences. End your meeting on time. With the right agenda, your meeting can be kept short and to the point.1. To learn the basics of organizing meetings is important because ________.A) meetings are a necessary evil of the everyday work lifeB) meetings are a good opportunity of communicationC) poorly organized meetings waste time and damage credibility D) meeting organization is a difficult task to finish2. What should you do before a meeting if you want to make it short and well-organized?A) Identify the aim of the meeting.B) Develop an agenda for the meeting. C) State the focus of the meeting.D) Decide on the time and place.3. The purpose of sending an email to everyone who is attending the meeting is to ________.A) make sure everyone knows the agendaB) inform the length of the meetingC) make sure everything needed is in placeD) make sure they will come on time 4. What is proper for the person presenting at a meeting?A) Confining to his time share. B) Starting the meeting on time.C) Ending the meeting on time.D) Taking notes and answering questions.5. It is not good to give all the handouts at the beginning of the meeting because ________.A) some people will be late for the meetingB) people may read them and ignore the speakers C) the handouts may be unevenly distributedD) the handouts may be ignored by some people