Chair Better MEETINGS

Your reputation can depend on how well you chair a meeting. The success of your meetings can only be judged by results.

         Do you need so many meetings? If you have a good communication system in place you will need fewer.

Five of the best meeting tips

* Plan well and prepare a cunning agenda

       Before you call a meeting, first decide what you would like the outcome to be.

        All items on the agenda should be specific and labelled; ‘For a decision’; ‘For your information’; For action by….. ‘

The sequence of items is critical. Allow the meeting to warm up before you introduce important items. Save good news items until the end, so the meeting finishes on a ‘high note’.

*  Timing is crucial

Always start on time regardless of the numbers present.

If you have to wait for people you always will. Get your participants into good habits. (A good way to get people to attend on time is to put on coffee and snacks a few  minutes before you are due to start.)

Once you have completed all the items on the agenda or the allocated time is reached, close the meeting!

Never go over your allocated time regardless of the items left on the agenda. (Participants usually have made other arrangements or may have transport deadlines to meet.)

* Add interest

Variety and humour make meetings more enjoyable.

Surprise your meetings with special events, such as a guest speaker.

Invite staff to make special presentations.

If appropriate, run a brainstorming session to come up with new ideas to solve a problem.

* Good minutes can save you hours

Minutes are the record of the business of a meeting. They don’t have to be detailed but they are critical to getting things done.

They should discreetly clarify trouble spots and formalise conclusions. They should set out who has agreed to do certain jobs, and when they should be completed.

* Make each meeting better than the last     

         Evaluate each meeting and aim to make each better than the last. Invite regular feedback and act on all useful recommendations.

         Make your meetings interesting, enjoyable and try to involve all participants. Meetings are not about ideas, they are about making things happen!

–Geoffrey Moss, mossassociates.co.nz

“A meeting is an event where minutes are kept and hours are lost.”

Source: “Persuasive Ways. ‘Tricks of the trade’ to get your ideas across”. First published by  Moss Associates Ltd., New Zealand and in Chinese by the Shanghai People’s Publishing House, the Singapore Institute of Management, Kogan Page Ltd, U.K and in Hungarian by Bagolyvar Konyvkiado.  Also published as the “Secrets of Persuasion” by Cengage Learning Asia and as an e-book and sold by Amazon.com.