How to Create a Scope and Manage a Meeting

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Develop and Present Project Plan, Scope, and Timeline - this article offers great suggestions for avoiding the most common pitfalls in project management associated with scope. While it does focus on project management, there are many aspects that carry over into strategic planning and reading this short article will give you good ideas for things you may want to discuss as you are working on the scope for your strategic planning project. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HA011718501033.aspx)
* Strategic Planning from the Stanford Alumni Consulting Team (ACT) -This is a quick read, but it provides good information concerning the processes, deliverables, and best practices to consider for strategic planning. Read the entire article including the parts hidden behind the "more…" areas. (https://alumni.gsb.stanford.edu/act/resources/askact/strategicplan.html)

* Defining the Scope of a Project - as the title indicates, this reading is focused more on defining the scope of a project. However, it contains information relevant to both strategic planning and project management. It is only 7 pages in length so you will want to read it all to get the full impact. (http://www.projectperfect.com.au/downloads/Info/info_define_the_scope.pdf)

* Putting the Cart After the Horse: Project Planning and Scope Definition - this site briefly discusses planning and defining scope. It offers good suggestions and advice and helps to bring to light why it is important to determine scope on the front end of the process. It is a quick read, go through all of it. (http://www.developerfusion.com/article/7066/putting-the-cart-after-the-horse-project-planning-and-scope-definition/)

* Step 1.2: Define Project Scope and Vision - this chapter from the WWF organization provides specific examples of determining scope for conservation projects. It will give you a good idea of how different the process of determining scope can be based on the entity you are working with. In this case, scope is very much related to geopgraphy and purpose, which is very different from the scope for technology-based strategic plans. (http://assets.panda.org/downloads/1_2_scope___vision_2006_05_17.pdf)

* Scope Statement Outline - this web page provides nothing more than a list of things you may want to consider including in a Scope Statement for a specific project. This site is focused on project management, but some of the items should be addressed when developing the scope for a strategic plan. Check it out if you want more information. (http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/ritp.html)

* Meetings: A Necessary Evil by Peter Wright - this article gives good step-by-step directions on how to plan and run planning meetings. As you begin to plan your meetings you may want to use this article as a guide. (http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/research/rstrat40.html)