CHAIRING a MEETINGS –

        Before you call a meeting ask yourself; “Do I need a meeting?  If you have a good two-way communication system in place you will need a few meetings.

        Before you call a meeting these answer questions.

“What type of meeting should we hold?”

“What do we hope to achieve?”

“Who can and will contribute?”

“When is the best time and where is the best place to hold it?”

        Meetings can be time-wasters. If you need a meeting they must be run well.

Your reputation can depend on how well you run a meeting.

ting can be time wasters

A handful of tips to improve your meeting skills

* Prepare well      

        Before you call a meeting, decide what you would like to achieve. 

        Prepare a shrewd agenda.

All items on the agenda should be specific and noted;

 “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’.

        Keep the number of participants small. The fewer people attending the easier it is to reach a consensus.

        Only invite essential people who can make a worthwhile contribution.

        Make the most of the talent and the experience present.

        Online meetings are fashionable, but not as effective as face-to-face meetings.

*  Timing is crucial

        Meeting are expensive when you consider participants’ salaries, travel costs, and the loss of work time.

        Always start on time regardless of the numbers present. If you have to wait for people you always will.

        An excellent way to get people to attend is to put on tea/coffee, or a treat before you are due to start.

        Make an effort to keep the meeting focused on the agenda. Don’t get sidetracked!

        Once you have completed the items on the agenda or the allocated time is reached, close the meeting. People have other tasks, or trains to catch.

        Never go over your allocated time regardless of the items left on the agenda.

        Keep meetings short. Do not run long meetings. Work expands to fill the time available. Get people back to work as soon as possible.

        There is an old saying: “A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost”.

* 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.

        People must leave a meeting feeling it was time well spent, they have learned something new, and they have made a contribution.

        Meetings should be enjoyable.

        As a chairperson, you should be relaxed.

        Try to be informal.

        Try telling a few anecdotes and jokes.

        Get all people involved.

        People want to be needed. Make the most of the talent and experience and give credit for good ideas.

*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 formalize conclusions.

        If decisions are made they must be perfectly clear who does what and by when.

        Agreed tasks must be recorded in the minutes and follow-up notes sent to the people involved. At the next meeting, they should be briefly reviewed to see if all the tasks allocated have been completed on time.

* Improve each meeting

        Constant evaluations are the key to successful meetings. Aim to make each meeting better than the last.

        Invite feedback and act on all good recommendations.

        Continuous improvement is essential to run successful meetings and enhance your reputation.

        Your people should walk away feeling they have contributed and have enjoyed the meeting.

-Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)

“The success of a meeting can only be judged by its results.”

SOURCE: For more on this topic see:

 “Persuasive Ways” was first published by Moss Associates Ltd, New Zealand, in Chinese by Shanghai People’s Publishing House, and as “Secrets of Persuasion” by Cengage Learning Asia. (Available as an e-book from Amazon.com.) Also available is “Getting Your Ideas Across” from Kogan Page, U.K, and a  Hungarian translation published by Bagolyvar Konyvkiado, Budapest.

For those in need download our FREE book “NO JOB? WHAT NOW?” from mossassociates.co.nz