Plan, manage and conduct meetings

Chair meetings

• Whilst meetings are extremely valuable and effective avenues in which to share information, make decisions and agree on strategies that will shape the future direction of a business
• It is vital that they are well managed
• Most meetings will have a person running it
• This is normally the person who called the meeting in the first place
• This person will assume the role of the ‘chairperson’ regardless of whether they give themselves the title or not.

Chair meetings

The role of the Chairperson

In essence it is their role to ensure:

• The meeting stays on track
• The agreed topics are discussed and auctioned
• All participants have an equal opportunity to contribute.

Chair meetings

By adopting the following concepts, the chairperson can help to conduct a meeting in an effective manner:

• Be prepared
• Use and follow the agenda
• Keep track of time
• Include people
• Get feedback.

Chair meetings

Meeting flow chart

There is a common meeting flow chart that is used to ensure all aspects of a meeting are covered including:

• Open the meeting
• Apologies
• Minutes of the previous meeting
• Business arising from the minutes.

Chair meetings

Meeting flow chart

• Correspondence
• Reports
• General business
• Any other business
• Closing meeting.

Opening meetings

• Always start on time and state that sticking to the agenda and its timeline is important
• Welcome attendees and thank them for their time
• Make introductions
• Clarify your role in the meeting
• Review the agenda
• Allocate someone to take minutes
• Start the meeting in a positive and enthusiastic manner.

Maintaining control