Meetings are not about ideas, they are about making things happen!
Your reputation can depend on how well you chair a meeting. The success of your meetings can only be judged by results.
A handful of tips to help you preside over successful meetings
*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 well 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 specially prepared presentations.
If appropriate, run a brainstorming session to come up with new ideas to solve a problem.
*Good minutes can save much time
A meeting is an event where minutes are kept and hours are lost.
Minutes are the record of the business of a meeting. They don’t have to be detailed but they are critical to get 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.
*Improve each meeting
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.
-Geoffrey Moss (mossassociates.co.nz)
“As a chairperson, your job is to protect the weak and control the strong”
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 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.
Another Handful of Tips 