Sharing Your Agenda/Minutes with Google Docs

Sending out agendas, updating them before the meeting and then sending out follow-up minutes can be time consuming, especially if there's an error that needs to be corrected and you have to send it out again. However, by creating your agenda with Google Docs and sharing it with your group, they will have a link to the most up-to-date information that can quickly be updated. Best part - no downloading or emailing necessary!

Setup

1. Create a folder where all your agenda/minutes documents will be stored. Be sure to include your committee/department's name (eg: Web Services Meeting Agendas/Minutes).
    
2. Share the folder with your committee members. As only you will be responsible for updating the content, the others only need the ability to provide comments. Information on how to setup sharing can be found at http://goo.gl/sk03rp.
    
3. Create a document that will act as your template, including sharing (you can see an example at: http://goo.gl/7M6OkQ). As you create a new meeting's agenda, you can either create a copy of your template or duplicate/edit your previous meeting's agenda.

The Process

As long as you agenda documents are stored in the proper folder,  the committee members will have access at any time to see the agenda.

Here is the process for each meeting:

1. Create your document for the meeting and update the agenda.
    
2. Send out the agenda for feedback (you can use the Email collaborators command under the File menu).
    
3. Committee members can leave comments (http://goo.gl/AljfqM) or suggest edit changes (http://goo.gl/2yOEy7).
    
4. Before the meeting, go through and add/approve any changes to the agenda.
    
5. During the meeting, make notes in the same document.
    
6. After the meeting, clean up the notes and make any changes.
    
7. Send our a message (see Step 2) letting everyone know the minutes are complete.

Screen Captures with Skitch

I create a lot of documentation and tutorials with Google Docs (it's the best way to replace PDFs). Of course, adding screenshots is always an important part of any good documentation. For that, my application of choice is Skitch.

Skitch (http://evernote.com/skitch/) is a free service/application provided by Evernote. It's easy to use, allows you to store your files within your Evernote account, provides easy sharing and has some great mark-up tools. What makes Skitch a winner for me is the ease with which I can drag my marked up screen shot to a Google Doc. I just click on the icon at the bottom and drag it onto my document. Quick and easy!

Here it is in action: