The document provides guidance on conducting effective meetings in 3 parts. Part 1 discusses conducting the meeting by being prepared, leading the discussion, confirming action items, and scheduling the next meeting. Part 2 reviews preparing for the meeting by deciding roles, coordinating schedules, preparing the agenda, and setting meeting rules. Part 3 offers tips for being an effective chairperson such as focusing discussion, highlighting key points, assisting with notes, and providing a summary. The overall document stresses the importance of organization and leadership to ensure meetings are productive.

1. HOW TO CONDUCT EFFECTIVE
MEETINGS

2. THREE PARTS:
I. Conducting a Meeting
II. Preparing for a Meeting
III. Being an Effective
Chairperson

3. CONDUCTING A MEETING
1.Be prepared
2.Lead the meeting
3.Confirm an action plan
4.Stay on topic
5.Schedule the next
meeting

4. PREPARING FOR A MEETING
1. Decide who the chairperson is going
to be
2. Ask the speakers to participate
3. Coordinate schedules
4. Prepare agenda
5. Establish meeting rules
6. Set time frames
7. Circulate the agenda
8. Send out reminders

5. BEING AN EFFECTIVE CHAIRPERSON
1.Be a leader
2.Indicate progress and the lack of
progress
3.Refocus discussion that has wandered
off the point
4.Transition between points effectively
5.Highlight important points
6.Assist with note taking if necessary
7.Clarify any misunderstanding
8.Offer a comprehensive summary at the
end of meetings

6. • Running an effective meeting
is crucial to the function of
any company or organization.
• It presents an opportunity to
organize, share information,
collaborate with diverse team
members, and tackle
objectives efficiently.

7. Being prepared, taking
leadership when needed,
and delegating effectively
are important elements of
effective meetings.

8. Additionally, when
conducting meetings, be
sure to leverage team
energy and engagement
as much as possible.

9. Part 1
Conducting a
Meeting

10. 1. BE PREPARED
Make sure that you have the
agenda on hand, a sense of
what key points need to be
emphasized, and a grasp on the
outcomes that need to be
reinforced before the meeting
ends.

11. Show up on time.
Workplace perception matters. If
you show up to meetings 15
minutes early, people will
assume that you lack
productivity or are using the
meeting to take time away from
other tasks.

12. • Have a copy of the agenda on
hand. While most things are
digital these days, sometimes
the best thing to do is print off
a copy of the agenda so you
can take quick notes as
needed.

13. 2. Lead the meeting

14. This means taking steps to
ensure all agenda business
is resolved and all voices
are heard. Below are
suggestions to assist with
this:

15. • Do roll call. Meetings are a means of
efficiently disseminating information to a
group and also permitting discussion to
ensure all persons understand their role in
the expected outcomes.
Doing roll call ensures that you know who is not in
the meeting so they can be approached later and
filled in. It also demonstrates that you are serious
about the information in the meeting.

16. • Review the agenda. This helps
participants focus their attention
and understand what will be
required of them. Many people
attend meetings one after the
other and providing an advance
organizer can be helpful to focus.

17. 3. Confirm an action plan

18. An action plan is an ending summary
that confirms what actions must
follow the meeting. It also presents
a plan for going forward that
impacts all meeting members.
Below are some suggestions for
creating an action plan:

19. Ensure every objective has a “point
person”: The point person is not
expected to complete the objective
personally; instead, they function
as a project manager who connects
the people who need to be involved
and makes the necessary
resources available.

20. Assign progress reports: These
can be formal or informal, but
the idea is that the person on
point knows to check in after a
certain period of time to confirm
progress on deliverables.

21. 4. Stay on topic

22. After each agenda item and
its corresponding
discussion, briefly
summarize outcomes per
the group discussion, ask
for questions and move on.

23. 5. Schedule
the next
meeting

24. By scheduling a meeting while you
have everyone present, it ensures
that they can respond immediately
with schedule conflicts.
Additionally, it also means that
your meeting will be scheduled as
far in advance as possible,
preventing conflicts with other
meetings.

25. Collect agenda items via email.
When the meeting ends, indicate
that you will use the current
agenda as a draft for the next
meeting and encourage meeting
attendees to send agenda items to
you that are pertinent to existing
objectives.

26. PART 2
Preparing for a Meeting

29. 1. DECIDE WHO THE
CHAIRPERSON IS GOING TO BE
This role typically falls to
managers; however, a great way
to create leadership opportunities
for up and coming team members
is assigning them to the role of
chairing departmental meetings.

30. 2. Ask the speakers to participate

31. Speakers are typically the point
personnel for individual objectives.
They have been organizing people
and resources to get the job done
and can describe the process and
outcomes most effectively. They can
also voice concerns over
unanticipated difficulties and the
need for more resources.

32. 3. Coordinate schedules.

33. Schedule meetings to
accommodate availability and
realistic limitations. For
example, while everyone may
be available late-afternoon on a
Friday, it may not be the best
time to discuss challenging
issues.

34. If not everyone can make the
meeting, assess who the key
players are for the project,
ensuring the meeting matches their
respective schedules.
Delegate note-taking and ensure
the meeting details are
disseminated to those who could
not attend.

36. 4. PREPARE AN AGENDA
An agenda should, at
minimum, set a topic list,
delegate presentation
duties, and set the time
devoted to each agenda
item. Below are some
helpful suggestions for
crafting a meeting agenda:

37. Ask for suggestions. Email is a good source
for this, because you can get requests in
writing. Accept agenda suggestions up to
two days before the meeting.
Summarize all agenda requests into an a
table with columns for topic, speaker, and
time allotted. If certain requests are afield of
the general theme, contact the person and
suggest the request be turned into a
separate memo, or discussed at a future
meeting.

38. Be realistic. Don’t try to cram 30
minutes worth of description
and discussion into 15
minutes. Instead, over
schedule time for meetings
and end early if necessary.

39. 5. ESTABLISH MEETING RULES.

40. This doesn't have to be
formal or punitive but it's
helpful to suggest
protocol to ensure the
meeting goes smoothly
and everyone gets to
share their insights.

41. This can be done at the beginning
of the meeting. Simply state "In the
interest of time, hold questions and
comments until after each speaker
has presented. If we don't get to
your comment during the allotted
discussion time, email me later and
we can talk."

43. PART 3
BEING AN EFFECTIVE CHAIRPERSON

44. 1. BE A LEADER.

45. Take responsibility for
communication in the meeting.
Ensure it meets all agenda
objectives. Delegate relevant
leadership responsibilities to
speakers who have a role in the
meeting. Demonstrate
participation in all stages of the
discussion.[7]

46. 2. INDICATE PROGRESS AND
THE LACK OF PROGRESS.

47. If this meeting addresses an ongoing
series of objectives, mention where
progress has occurred and who was
responsible for it.
If there are objectives that had not
progressed since the last meeting,
address why.
If this is due to lack of time or resources,
talk to the point person about how to
address this, potentially outside the
meeting itself.

48. 3. Refocus discussion that has
wandered off the point.

49. There are times when
enthusiasm or frustration can
push discussions off course.
Stay attentive and be sure to
bring off-point discussion back
into line with the goals of the
agenda. Below are some
suggested approaches:

50. Frame the meeting as a "fact
gathering mission": When we do
this, it implies that everyone
needs to be heard in order to
accumulate as much information
as possible. This can encourage
meeting monopolizes to wait their
turn.

51. Try Cyberstorming:
Cyberstorming uses electronic
chat or forum structure to share
ideas and can be harnessed for the
purpose of informal meetings.
Since everything that is entered
can be seen by all other team
members, it removes the
competition regarding who gets
heard.

52. Neutralize rambling: If someone is
rambling, say "That's a good point,
Bob, and I'm glad you brought it up.
Let's talk about that later, ok." Many
times people don't realize that they
are rambling, but if the point is
important enough to them, they will
come to you independently to talk at
greater length.

53. Control tangents:
Sometimes the problem is not that an
individual goes on too long but that they
attempt to re-focus the discussion on
extraneous point outside the agenda.
When this happens, acknowledge what is
being said and offer to add the discussion
points to the next meeting agenda, but
remain firm that the meeting has to move
on to the stated objectives.

54. Have a one-on-one.
Have a conversation with the
monopolize about what happened. Do
this privately. Be sure to take a tone of
concern, rather than annoyance. Be
sure to focus on what you observed
and offer opportunity for the other
person to explain their response.
Offer to help this person prevent
monopolizing in the future.

55. 4. TRANSITION BETWEEN POINTS
EFFECTIVELY.

56. Be assertive when maintaining time
constraints. This doesn’t mean be
rude; however, it does mean letting
people know that the meeting is
moving on and that they can
continue their current discussion
with relevant parties after the
meeting.

57. Don't steam roll: Although it is
important to keep the meeting on
track, it can be counterproductive
to more too quickly between
agenda items. Before moving on,
always ask for questions or
concerns. Make sure that the team
is on board and ready to move
ahead with you, rather than being
left behind.

58. 5. Highlight
important points.

59. Key objectives need to be
emphasized, and their
relationship to less critical
objectives emphasizes.
Help members of the meeting
understand the scope of the project
and how each individual part is an
important piece in a much more
important whole.

60. 6. Assist
with note
taking if
necessary.

61. There is usually someone
tasked with note taking in
each meeting; however, if
they become
overwhelmed, it is the job
of the leader to step in and
task him or herself.

63. At the end of each point, the meeting
leader offers a summary that
attendees can take away from the
meeting. These end cap summaries
also present an opportunity for
people to chime in when they are
unclear on something.
As the meeting leader, be prepared to
explain detailed ideas for team
members to understand.

64. 8. OFFER A COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY
AT THE END OF MEETINGS.

65. Decisive leadership avoids
stagnation and vacillation,
keeping workers on task and
motivated, while also
behaving responsively to
change and new
information. Below are the
features of decisive
leadership:

66. Clarity of purpose: Ensures
alignment of all decisions with
organizational goals and ethics.

67. Engagement: Allows leaders to live by
example, embodying engagement with
company values that allows for
effective, efficient decision making.
Transparency: Does not permit self-
interest. Instead, demonstrates how
decisions for the good of the company
help everyone flourish.

68. Creating a culture of honest failure: Honest
failures are learning points that act as
springboards to better decision making.
Decisive leadership embraces those times
when mistakes are made.

69. Open and effective
communication: Alignment with
company values ensures that,
where communicating upward
into senior management or
down the hierarchy to managed
employees, there is no
inconsistency or contradiction.