ALT-1 How to be a first Class Personal Assistantadministrator
The assistant and administrator roles are two of the most important careers in the modern business world. They ensure that everything runs smoothly, as well as picking up a nice salary in the process. If you have ever had aspirations to move up a business ladder, one of the first paths your goal will take on is the role of an assistant or an administrator. Your long term goal is to further your career but to do that, you need to achieve as much as you possibly can during the assistant or administrator roles in order to set a viable foundation for your future. In the modern business empire, just how does someone become a first-class personal assistant or administrator?
Everything from personal skills, telephone manner, typing skills and organizational skills play a crucial role in whether you will make a good worker in this field or not. One of the most crucial aspects of being an administrator or personal assistant is organizing meetings. Meetings take place in every business or organization as a way to advance business endeavours as well as creating partnerships and increasing the quality of service to the consumer. Being able to organize meetings competently is single handedly the most important aspect of furthering your administration career and setting a great example for yourself in the process.
- BEFORE MEETINGS
An administrator plays a crucial role in the organization factor of meetings. While all of these duties are very important, the most important factor of all is the planning before the meeting takes place. It is the administrator's duty to carry out a wide number of tasks before the meeting in order to ensure that everything runs smoothly and to the original plan to benefit the organization as a whole.
The first thing an administrator should ensure is that the venue is scheduled for the meeting to take place at. This is not as simple as it sounds however as the administrator needs to know the number of people attending roughly to book a room and location big enough to host the entire panel.
The next thing that has to be done beforehand is to meet with the chairperson in order to write up an accurate agenda on what subjects and topics will be covered during the meeting. It is up to the administrator to note down every detail during this to write up the agenda as well as ask for the list of people attending. Calling notices must then be sent out to the people attending the meeting with the agenda attached. Apologies and notices from people who are unable to attend must be noted down to be given to the chair at the meeting.
The number of people actually attending is an important issue as you are then able to make an accurate decision of rooming, which relates to the number of seats and tables in the room booked as well as the number of refreshments available during the meeting.
The last thing the administrator is required to do before the meeting is book the equipment, paperwork and documents needed for the meeting, this can be anything from projectors to computers and books. They should also ensure that the electronic equipment is working beforehand to ensure that the meeting does not get delayed from broken equipment and also it is a good idea to have staff and experts available in the event of a breakdown.
- DURING MEETINGS
The administrator also has several very important roles during the meeting as it is taking place, it is not limited to just ensuring that everything is booked and set to run smoothly beforehand, it is about ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly at all times to ensure a steady work flow within the organization.
The first thing to consider is sitting in a position near the chairperson; this is to ensure every small detail is covered. The administrator has to do during the meeting is record all the people present and list them against the people scheduled to attend in the first place. This is very important when it comes to handing out minutes and notes as everyone who was scheduled to be present in the meeting whether they are there or not will need a copy of the minutes and notes to see any topics covered and more importantly any decisions made in regards to the topics being talked about.
It is also required that the administrator keeps check on the equipment used and involved in the meeting both in terms of the usage and the health of the equipment. In the event of an emergency or breakdown it is the administrators role to do their best to make it work again or have technical staff waiting on a call to come and lend their assistance to get things back on track again.
- AFTER MEETINGS
The duties of the administrator continue after the meeting has concluded also. The most important duty of course is typing up the minutes from the notes and sending both he minutes and the notes to everyone in attendance as well as the people who were unable to attend for whatever reason. A copy of the notes and minutes must then be filed away for future reference.
Once all the technical details have been dealt with, it is then the duty of the administrator to ensure that the room is cleared and all equipment, chairs and anything else used that was borrowed is put away safely and carefully.
- SUMMARY
The administrator's role in organizing meetings is something which continues before, during and after the meeting in question. Without the administrator, all of these crucial aspects of the meeting would have to be undertaken by someone higher in the organization who may have work of their own. This could potentially jeopardize the work flow within the organization and therefore this makes the administrator's role very important when it comes to meetings.
If you are able to organize a meeting to first class standard, there is nothing in the administrative role that you are incapable of doing.
