Chairing Meetings

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Chairing Meetings
Learning Outcome

• To be able to plan, prepare and
• conduct effective meetings

On completing this course you will appreciate the
need to

• Set meeting objectives
• Select the best meeting structure
• Select appropriate participants
• Prepare the venue and materials
• Plan and write the agenda
• Conduct and administer the meeting effectively

Related courses

• Meetings, planning and preparation
• Meeting behaviour and dodgy delegates

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Conducting Effective Meetings
In this course we will consider

• Facilitating meetings
• Conducting the meeting
• Controlling the agenda
• Participation
• Making decisions
• Meeting minutes
• Meeting follow up

Running an effective meeting means using
excellent facilitation skills to gain positive
contributions to achieve the objective of holding
the meeting. In this course we will consider How
to facilitate an effective meeting, Conducting
the meeting, Controlling the agenda and
contribution from the participants, Being
decisive and logging minutes and actions.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
Key facilitation skills

• Friendly but business-like
• Positive and productive
• Neutral
• Organised
• Motivational
• Decisive

What other attributes should you have? Please
consider these, make a list, then compare with
the list provided in our information section.
Lets look at the key qualities of an effective
facilitator Friendly and business like, positive
and productive, neutral, organised, motivational,
and you should have the ability to make
decisions.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
Key facilitation skills

• Express ideas
• Question effectively
• Listen
• Analyse appropriately
• Provide positive feedback
• Clarify misunderstandings
• Manage interruptions

How does your list compare with ours?
Further facilitation skills include the ability
to Express ideas and encourage others,
question effectively, listen and analyse
responses, give constructive feedback, clarify
any misunderstandings, prevent or manage
inappropriate interruptions.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
Conducting the meeting
Fail to plan, is a plan to fail.. There are
some important questions you should ask yourself
before you begin to arrange a meeting. Consider
what these are and then click on the information
button to compare yours with ours.
Conducting a meeting takes confidence, excellent
facilitation and organisation skills. Know what
your meeting should achieve and then make sure it
is done. Make a list of all the things you need
to do and consider before you arrange a meeting.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
The Agenda

• Date / Time / Location /Attendees / Apologies
• Give a statement of purpose
• Include minutes of last meeting
• Include timings against each item
• Have detail under each item to ensure clarity
• AOB?
• Circulate prior to the meeting for information
  
  
  comments / additions / changes

The agenda should include, a reason for the
meeting, include any previous meeting
information, time allocated to each
event, Include details for clarity, do you want
to include AOB? (this can add valuable time to a
meeting if someone introduces a challenging
topic. Ask participants prior to the meeting for
any items to be added, with times and do not
include AOB). Make sure invites and notification
is communicated in plenty of time. Obtain
agreement of attendance.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
The Participants

• Have they all seen the agenda?
• Do they know what their role will be?
• Are they aware of what they need to bring?
• Are they aware of the start and finish time?
• Do they know where to be?
• Have they any agenda points that need
  including?

Make sure the participants are fully informed
about every aspect of the meeting, and certainly
make it known what the meeting is to achieve.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
Administration and Actions

• It is important to
• Home in on actions - So what needs to be
  done?
• Note actions during the meeting - What, Who,
  When
• Summarise actions at the end
• Send out a list of actions

Noting all the details from the meeting,
especially any actions is crucial to the success
of every meeting. Make sure the note taker has
the skills to do this accurately. All minutes
and action points need to be communicated and
followed up. All actions must have an owner and
you will need to check they are being done.
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Conducting Effective Meetings
Plan and prepare

• Meeting objective
• Identify the right participants
• What do they need to bring?
• Meeting venue and time
• Do you need to provide refreshments?
• An agenda
• Minute and action logging
• How will you conduct the meeting?

Things you need to consider, organise. Reason
for meeting what is your main objective. Who
needs to attend to make this happen. Is your
meeting for information or making a decision or
both? What do the participants need to
bring. Where will the meeting be and at what
time. What is on your agenda? Do you need
refreshments? Who will take minutes and log
actions? Are your facilitation skills up to the
job? Remember - Plan, prepare, promote and
produce!
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Conducting Effective Meetings
Facilitating the meeting

• Know your audience
• Have you got everything you need?
• Handouts?
• Reference Material?
• Is the room ok?
• Does everything work?
• CHECK IT!

You know the skills you need to be an excellent
facilitator, here are a few more things you need
to consider.
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Conducting Effective Meetings

• Effective discussion skills
• Clarify
• Balance participation
• Listen
• Summarise
• Stay on track
• Manage time
• Test for consensus
• Evaluate meeting

Get the process right
Round Robin - Turn Taking Presentations with
QA Facilitated Open Forum MindMapping
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Conducting Effective Meetings
ENSURE YOU ARE COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY
ONCISE
THE 5 Cs of Effective Communication
Dont waffle - Stick to the Point Dont stun
the audience with expertise Signpost and link
sessions Keep it simple
LARITY
Simple sentences Frequent illustrations and
examples Use the language of the audience One
point at a time
ONTROL
Check understanding - Very important! Establish
rapport / Get to know them Check everyone is
performing the desired activity Stay calm -
appear confident - SMILE!
OURTESY
HARACTER
Listen and encourage participation Be empathetic
/ assertive / open Recognise that people
dont like training / speaking in public / lack
confidence / think youre testing them
Express your personality Be down to earth and
natural Be enthusiastic Use humour / have a sense
of humour
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Conducting Effective Meetings
And finally

• Carry out your agreed actions
• Monitor other peoples actions
• Dont leave it until the next meeting!
• Find out what they thought of it - any ideas
  for improvement?

END
And finally, always, always, follow up.
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