Introduction
If you want to create a new meeting, you have two options:
create a new meeting from scratch (click here to learn how); or
copy an existing meeting.
Creating a new meeting from scratch gives you a blank slate to work from - whereas copying an existing meeting will copy that meeting's agenda including item configurations timings, actions, attendees and presenters. Because meetings are cyclical in nature, coping existing meetings will often give you a faster, more consistent result.
Important: Meetings cannot be copied across forums
Because meetings exist insider forums, you can only copy meetings within the same forum (e.g. it is not possible to copy a Board of Directors' Meeting to your Audit Committee).
Copying a meeting
You can copy a meeting from the meetings tab either at the company level or at the forum level. To do this, simply click the copy icon next to the relevant meeting as shown below:
Once you have done this, a copy of the selected meeting will be created.
Automatic changes when a meeting is copied
Although we call this process 'copying' a meeting, the new meeting created will not be an exact copy of the original meeting - because that's usually not what you would want! We automatically make the following changes:
Scenario | How reflected in the New Meeting |
Original meeting name - e.g. "August Board Meeting" | The words "Copy of" will automatically be added to the beginning of the original meeting's name - e.g. "Copy of August Board Meeting". This can be changed in the Meeting Details tab. |
The original meeting had a date specified | The date will be removed for the new meeting so you can specify a new date. |
The original meeting had a start time specified | The start time will be removed for the new meeting so you can specify a new start time. |
The original meeting had forum members who were marked as apologies | Those members will be reverted to "In full" attendees of the new meeting. |
A forum member has been removed since the original meeting | That person will not be removed from the new meeting entirely (including from any items where they were the presenter in the original meeting). |
A forum member has been added since the original meeting | The new member will be added as an "In full" attendee of the new meeting. |
Best practice tip
Although it is quick and easy to simply copy last month's meeting and re-use it, the reality is that each meeting is unique and so working this way will mean that, after you have copied that previous meeting, you will need to spend some time 'cleaning it up'.
Build a template
Instead of this approach, we recommend that you invest a small amount of time to build one or two templates that:
include all standard items that you would usually expect to see on the agenda of the meetings copied from that template
pre-configure those items to the maximum possible extent (often it will be possible to fully pre-configure items)
may include a section (or sections) of optional items that are pre-configured and can be deleted if they are not required (on the basis that it is quicker and simpler to delete a section if it is not relevant that it is to add one in if it is missing).
What template should I build?
It may be tempting to launch in and build a range of different templates, but we recommend that you start off by building just one template for each forum. That template should reflect the standard items you would expect to be included on most or all meetings of that forum. Examples of the kinds of items you might want to include are:
Acknowledgement of country
Quorum / Attendance / Apologies
Disclosure of interests
Minutes of previous meetings
Action items / Matters arising
CEO report / business update
CFO report / finance update
Risk report
Legal & regulatory report
Private / In camera sessions
Your template can be edited at any time if you identify missing items or want to make other changes.
Worth knowing: you can copy your first template to create other variants
Once you've created one template and are confident that it meets your requirements, you can then copy that template to create alternative variants.
However we recommend that you make sure you are happy with your first template before creating variants - and keep in mind that the more variants you create, the more time it will take if you need to make changes.
How do I build a template?
A template meeting is just like any other meeting - but you simply give it a name that makes it identifiable as a template and never give it a specific date. As such, you can create a template by:
creating a new meeting from scratch for the specific purpose of building the template; or
copying an existing meeting and then 'cleaning it up' so that it can be used as a template.