If you have to chair a meeting and are unsure how to manage it well, these tips will help to set you up to be successful.
- Give lead time to participants.
Try to book your meeting at least a month in advance. Busy people’s calendars are often quite full several weeks ahead.
- Have a carefully thought-out agenda and use it!
The agenda is one of the best tools you have for the meeting. It helps you stay on track, helps to refocus those who wander off topic, allows you to manage the time well, and prevents wasting time. Send it out two or three weeks before the meeting, so participants come prepared.
- Start and end on time.
Ending on time is as critical as starting on time. If you appreciate the time people are investing in this meeting, you also respect their time. Try to finish 5-10 min. early, so participants can refresh before next meeting. If you can end the meeting a few minutes early (and that’s not always possible, but it’s always desirable), it’s a bonus people appreciate. Or consider starting past the hour, e.g., 10.15 am, to accomplish the same goal.
- State the meeting’s purpose even on the agenda.
The purpose helps to focus participants at the meeting. All items on the agenda reflect this purpose.
- Help people be productive.
Sometimes you need to focus or refocus discussion, other times you want them to generate ideas or discuss various aspects of this issue respectfully. You model how you want participants to act, so pay attention, listen carefully, ask questions to clarify, and maintain order (e.g., only one speaker at a time).
- Delegate work as much as possible.
You already have a lot to do preparing for and chairing this meeting; get other people to do other work. Encourage participants to step up or ask them directly to take on a task (but be sure you spread the work around). Many people have talent and skill; you’re not the only one!
- Be inclusive.
Know who’s at the table and what they bring to it, and remember: everyone at the table counts. Other ways of being inclusive are almost endless. It may take thought and consideration to be inclusive, but inclusivity pays off.
(Observers do not belong at the table; they can sit along the wall and they do not participate at all.)
- Summarize at certain points in the meeting.
This is an important skill for you, a chairperson, and one that you might need to practice. It’s especially useful if a long-winded participant speaks and you want to capture the two or three key points they raised. The minute-taker uses your summary to be sure the correct points are noted in the minutes, and participants confirm that they understood the main points the speaker raised. It's also very helpful to everyone if you summarize at the end of an item on the agenda – clarifying the key points raised, any action to be taken or decision(s) made, who is responsible for the action and the due date.
- Take notes for yourself.
Just jot down the main points speakers are making; this helps immensely when you summarize. Don’t try to track on everything; that’s what the minute taker is for.
- Evaluate your performance as chairperson.
Consider what went well and how you could improve. Keep it manageable and realistic – the whole meeting was not a disaster and you did not continually embarrass yourself. Acknowledge the things you did well (pat yourself on the back for doing a hard job), and then figure out one to three things you want to do differently and better the next time you chair a meeting.
You will get better with practice, especially if you want to improve. Hang in there! It’s worth the effort because those skills you refine in the chairperson role also help you in other endeavours.