--- title: "7: How to Invite the Right People to Your Meetings" id: "4931" type: "post" slug: "right-meeting-invitees-007" published_at: "2016-08-13T11:00:34+00:00" modified_at: "2022-12-25T00:45:35+00:00" url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/right-meeting-invitees-007/" markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/right-meeting-invitees-007.md" excerpt: "This episode examines the process I use and suggest to decide who to invite to specific meetings." taxonomy_category: - "Podcast" taxonomy_post_tag: - "criteria" - "invitees" - "meetings" --- [Skip to the content](#site-content) [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com) ### Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) Toggle search field - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) # [7: How to Invite the Right People to Your Meetings](https://johnpoelstra.com/right-meeting-invitees-007/) This episode examines the process I use and suggest to decide who to invite to specific meetings. [https://media.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/content.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/JPS007-Right-Meeting-Invitees.mp3](https://media.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/content.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/JPS007-Right-Meeting-Invitees.mp3) Podcast: [Download](https://media.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/content.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/JPS007-Right-Meeting-Invitees.mp3) Subscribe: [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1#episodeGuid=http%3A%2F%2Fjohnpoelstra.com%2F%3Fp%3D4931) | [Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) ## People to Invite In general, the best people to invite are those who can: 1. Make decisions 2. Give valuable input and insights 3. Move things forward ## People Not to Invite Inviting the wrong people often drags the meeting down, makes it difficult to facilitate, and make decisions. I do not invite people to my meetings or ask them not to attend if they: 1. Are curious to hear what is going on 2. Can’t explain why they need to attend 3. Can’t explain what value they will bring or ADD to the meeting 4. Just want “keep tabs on what’s going on” If someone simply wants to be “informed” I don’t think that is a sufficient reason to attend unless the meeting minutes aren’t very good. Great meeting minutes should address all these needs. Are your minutes great? ## General Guidelines 1. Set a limit of two people from a given team or function 2. Send minutes to anyone that wants to receive them 3. Make the minutes so good that people can substitute them for attending the meeting 4. Keep track of each attendee and the function they represent with a “people map.” ## Credits - [Pulse Rock](http://www.incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100102&Search=Search) by Kevin MacLeod - [Sax, Rock, and Roll](http://www.incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100086) by Kevin MacLeod All songs licensed under [Creative Commons](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) #### John Poelstra [Author archive](https://johnpoelstra.com/author/john-poelstra/) August 13, 2016 [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) [criteria](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/criteria/) , [invitees](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/invitees/) , [meetings](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/meetings/) [Previous post](https://johnpoelstra.com/status-meeting-morass-006/) [Next post](https://johnpoelstra.com/avoiding-meeting-roll-call-008/) ## 1 Comment ## [Add yours](#respond) 1. Anon[August 13, 2016 at 8:57 am](https://johnpoelstra.com/right-meeting-invitees-007/#comment-331913) [Reply](#comment-331913) Poor minutes historically will cause future meetings to grow in size. Also great idea about heading off potential distractors ahead of time. Letting them “vent” prior to the meeting can help keep the mtg on track. I’ve never thought about limiting to 2 per function to keep that team appropriately engaged. General feedback on your podcasts. The length is great. I often watch Eli the Computer Guy on youtube and it seems many of his are over 2.5hrs! I’m not sure how he has that much time to produce such a video, much less for anyone to have time to watch it all. [Reply](#comment-331913) ### 2 Pingbacks 1. [12: Collaborative Meeting Minutes-Listener Questions and Feedback - John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com/collaborative-meeting-minutes-listener-questions-and-feedback-012/) 2. 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