Verb

meeting

1. Present participle of meet.

Noun

Singular meeting

Plural meetings

meeting (plural meetings)

1. A gathering of people/parties for a purpose.

   We need to have a meeting about that soon.

2. The people at such a gathering, as a collective.

   What has the meeting decided.

3. An encounter between people, even accidental.

   They came together in a chance meeting on the way home from work.

4. A place or instance of junction or intersection.

   Earthquakes occur at the meeting of tectonic plates.

Derived terms

• meetinghouse
• meeting place
• race meeting
• Sunday-go-to-meeting

Synonyms

• assembly

In a meeting, two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a (usually) predetermined topic such as business or community event planning, often in a formal setting.

In addition to coming together physically (in real life, face to face), communication lines and equipment can also be set up to have a discussion between people at different locations, e.g. a conference call or an e-meeting.

In organizations, meetings are an important vehicle for personal contact. They are so common and pervasive in organizations, however, that many take them for granted and forget that, unless properly planned and executed, meetings can be a waste of time and resources.

Because of their importance, a career in professional meeting planning has emerged in recent years. In addition, the field of Meeting Facilitation has formalized with an internationally-recognized "Certified Professional Facilitator" designation through the International Association of Facilitators (IAF)