Who's taking minutes?

I've been to a number of planning meetings recently and my over-brainstormed brain stormed off in protest a while ago. At every turn agendas are being itemised, whiteboards are being lavishly covered with mind maps and precious minutes (even hours on some occasions) are being taken from my life.

It's not that I'm completely averse to planning or meetings - it's just that they don't seem to mix too well.

It's well known that many hands make light work, but many heads are usually problematic. Planning is like cooking; too many planners spoil the plot.

Also, when you have a group of people gathered in a confined space with high expectations, a strong sense of urgency and a nagging desire to be sitting on the beach you're bound to get awkward silences. And unfortunately, awkward silences are almost always filled with inane suggestions and insane projections.

Perhaps most importantly, they're just plain boring.

But never fear. I've been working away in the shadows and I've come up with some ideas to make the unavoidable task of planning, a bit more interesting:

- Planning meatings: Set your goals and draft your actions the Aussie way, around a barbeque. If things start to go downhill you can blame it all on the underdone snags.

- Plane-ing meetings: Hurtle into the future as you hurtle across the globe at 10,000 feet.

That was all I could come up with. I'm afraid I'm in need of a bit of feedback and some fresh perspectives. I propose we get together to sort it all out. Check your diaries and let me know when you're free. I'll just bash out a brief list of things to discuss and when we get together, we should have it sorted in no time. . .

On a more serious note, the last planning meeting I went to was quite exciting. A few of the churches in Marrickville are working together to get a combined Youth Group up and running. Your prayers and suggestions would be appreciated.