Originally Posted by bob_32_116

Yes!

And also - this sounds boring but it's necessary - you need someone to take minutes. not so much to have the minutes themselves, as to have people aware that suggestions are being recorded, which makes it more likely they will be acted on.

I've been to many meetings of the "Let's get together and talk about these issues" variety at which actions or solutions to a problem are proposed, they are more or less agreed on verbally by those present - and then after the meeting nothing happens. Or, worse, something happens that is in contradiction with what was agreed. Two questions need to be asked repeatedly: "What action are we going to take?" and "Who is going to take that action?" - and if it's decided that Jimmy Jones is going to do such and such, and Jimmy Jones sees that this is going in the minutes, it's much more likely that jimmy Jones will actually do it, rather than forgetting about it and making the meeting a pointless exercise.