What is an advisory group meeting?

What is an advisory group? 

Advisory groups are people who come together (usually with a particular skill set) to share their opinions and offer recommendations to an organization.

Their ultimate aim is to help a company solve an issue it’s struggling to get a grasp of. By not being as close to the issue as executives or staff, they can look at the wider picture and hear opinions, research facts, review reports and make recommendations with greater impartiality. 

An advisory group can work on a specific project, such as company restructuring, or look at something bigger, for instance, a merger or how an organization can break into new markets. They are usually time-limited, typically disbanding once they accomplish what they need to do.

The most successful advisory groups have their members drawn from experts in a particular area. Recommendations it makes are going to be used to make important decisions, so they need to come from people with the knowledge to make them.

What is an advisory group meeting? 

Members of advisory groups often do a lot of work away from formal meetings, but when they do come together, it’s a chance for them to review progress and decide on what they need to do next. Their ultimate goal is to provide advice to those that hired them, so meetings should always be moving their work in that direction. 

Advisory group meetings can be attended by a lot of different stakeholders, so it’s always good to start with a round of introductions. Some people there might not know each other - especially if external experts are brought in for one or two meetings. Also, make sure someone is taking minutes, so they can be referred to in the future. 

These meetings are going to contain a lot of updates on work being done by the group, so the relevant people should deliver their findings and be prepared to answer questions. The chair of the meeting can ensure these stay on topic. Any important prep work should be sent out beforehand.

As the meeting is drawing to a close, it needs to have action points and a direction to move in. These action points are going to form the basis of what needs to be done before the next meeting.

How to schedule an advisory group meeting 

With lots of different internal and external stakeholders to think of, trying to arrange a meeting via email is going to be impossible. Doodle solves your problem. 

Using Group Poll you only have to send out a selection of times to participants, they choose what works for them and you get the best time to meet in a matter of minutes. 

Doodle Professional also lets you add a professional look to your invites, removes ads and lets you send reminders. Plus you can add your favorite video conferencing tools.

Doodle makes it easy to get your group together without rounds of email back and forth. No matter if the meeting is for five or 500 - you’ll easily find a time for everyone. Try it for free today.