1) Preparing to chair a meeting requires considering objectives, agenda, participants, location, and logistics. The chairperson is responsible for the meeting's success and should decide on desired outcomes. 2) An agenda should list objectives, expected participants, attachments, start and end times, and catering needs if applicable. Participants should be invited in a timely manner. 3) Logistics like the meeting place, room layout, technology, and catering must be arranged based on the meeting's needs. The chair should appoint a note-taker and follow rules like managing the agenda order, participant engagement, and timekeeping.

1. Tool A16Preparing a meeting as a chairperson
Network facilitation or moderation is a task which may be but need
not be independent of a hierarchical function. Therefore, preparing
a meeting chaired by you requires a number of preparations which
may but need not differ from those of a moderator or facilitator.
Here we focus on those that may differ.
In Tool A3: Chairing vs. moder-
ating we have compared the two
very different tasks. The situa-
tion assumed for all the tools of
this collection is the one of mod-
eration. Therefore, at least in
one tool, we want to assemble
all tasks of a chairperson in pre-
paring a meeting. You may have
a secretary who will assist in
preparing the meeting. Make
sure to have a thorough briefing
going through all the relevant
items of a meeting.
Chairing meetings
(from Tool A3)
The chairperson …
• mostly is a person with a higher
position in the organisation than
the rest of the group. He or she is
responsible for the success of the
meeting and being the chairper-
son is in line with his or her task
in the organisation, not a role.
• always is concerned with the sub-
ject of the meeting. He or she
values contributions, backs or dis-
cards options.
• concentrates on the subject itself
and less on methods and proce-
dures.
• makes sure that his or her inten-
tions and priorities are covered.
• introduces clear and specific ob-
jectives of what the meeting is to
achieve.
• intervenes personally in the case
of conflict and personal attacks
inviting to argue strictly on the
case.
Basically for preparing a meeting
you can use the same scheduling
device as for workshops (cf. An-
nex to Tool A5) because it fol-
lows the same planning logic we
are applying here.
The difference here is that we
assemble all items to take care
of in one overview.
Objectives and contents
You are responsible of the results of the meeting, of its
success.
Aim So you have to decide before the meeting what deci-
sions or agreements you want to have taken at the
end of the meeting. And if you want certain decisions
to be taken in a certain way or direction, make sure
that you know before the meeting which direction
this is. Many things depend on the specific purpose of
a meeting.
Objectives and
contents
Cf.Annex to Tool A5:
The planning of
workshops
Cf. Tool A3:
Chairing vs.
moderating
31.07.2008, 12:23:52

2. 2/4
Who will be invited, who must be invited? Is the mailing
list up to date?
Who else will be needed (any experts on some issue dealt with
in the meeting)
Who else had (to have) the opportunity to make suggestions for
a substantive agenda?
Who needs to be contacted, briefed, talked to before the
meeting, in order to avoid unnecessary conflict or
crash situations? Or, if you want to come to a specific
decision, whom do you need to win?
What will be on the agenda? Is the agenda prepared in
time? Is it formulated in a way that invites people to
come well prepared?
What else will have to be documented or attached (files, photo-
copies, suggestions, etc.) in order to not loose time
during the meeting for reading.
How will participants be invited (letter, email, forum,
etc.)
How will you chair the meeting? What will be your style?
Will it be formal or rather an open moderating –like
style? Which points on the agenda need formal, which
reflective treatment? Which of them should come
first?
When Are there important people on leave or travelling,
any absences of people to be taken in consideration?
When The agenda should not only say at what time the
meeting starts but also at what time it will finish.
You should have an idea of how much time you need
per point on the agenda. What could be postponed
without damage? As a rule of thumb, ordinary meet-
ings should not last longer than two hours. If it is
longer, have you planned breaks?
Where What is a good place for the sort of meeting you are
planning? Just the ordinary meeting room? Or some-
where out of the ordinary?
Formal checklist for agenda and invitation
Participants Is the mailing list up to date?
Is the mailing list/list of participants on the agenda?
When Day of the week, date
What time Starting time, finishing time
Agenda (at least a provisional) agenda;
updating should be possible at the beginning of the
meeting
Attachments Are all relevant materials, documents, etc. attached?
Technical conditions and environment
Logistics Is the place where you meet well accessible?
• by car
• by public transport
• Are there parking lots for all the cars expected?
• Is entrance informed?
Room • Is the room fit for what you want or need?
• Has it enough space?
Formal checklist
for agenda and
invitation
Technical
conditions and
environment

3. 3/4
• Is it silent, if you need tranquillity?
• Is it close to the place of the problem when you
need to solve a problem? You may have to test
things.
• Can the room be darkened for projection?
Are there blinds? If not, is it possibly too sunny at
the time you meet?
• Do you need tables or do you want them to be
removed?
• Are there toilets nearby?
• Has it been checked before the meeting?
Technology What do you need? Have you checked for each item
on the agenda what sort of technical support you
need? Here is a checklist
• Black-/whiteboard
• Flipchart/s (how many?)
• Laptop
• Projector
• Moderation boards/pinbooards
• Moderation kit
• Has everything been checked before the meeting?
Catering Depending on the length of the meeting, may be even
on the subject, different catering is needed.
• Water (not too cold) should always be available!
• If hot drinks are wanted, hot water for tea and
(hopefully fresh) coffee should be available.
Note: coffee is pure poison after ten minutes on a
hot surface or in a thermo can.
• Fruits or cookies (low sugar )
Six rules for chairing a meeting
Chair OK, you are responsible. But there may be situations
or just points on the agenda where you want someone
of your staff to chair the meeting. Clarify such issues
at the beginning of a meeting. Give people a chance
to prepare for it.
Records or
minutes
Who will record the results of the meeting? Appoint a
person at the beginning and make clear what sort of
recording you want, just results or “minutes”.
Our Tool A1: To-do form offers you a very practical
way of recording the decisions or agreements taken in
a meeting and who is responsible of transforming
them in action.
Agenda The order of the day sent to all participants with the
invitation to the meeting normally is a provisional
one. Ask all participants whether anything new has to
be integrated. Also clarify whether the order of the
agenda is accepted.
Time If the agenda does not have already time budgets for
each point try to fix them at the beginning. If the
respective point was suggested by one of the partici-
pants, ask him/her for consent. Make sure to keep
the meeting within the overall time planned.
Participants Make sure to connect all participants to the meeting.
Build rapport to people. Ask participants for their
Name 1
Six rules for
chairing
a meeting
See Tool A1:
To-do form

4. 4/4
opinion, address them personally. Use their names. If
there is a new participant, take time to allow for a
brief presentation. Of all participants, not only the
“newcomer”. Start with presenting yourself in ex-
actly the way how you want others to present them-
selves. Note the names if you don’t know them or if
you are not sure to remember them.
Do it in the way you see in the graphic. It will make
remembering easier.
Myself
Name 1
Name 2
Name 3
Name 4Name 6
Name 7
Name 9
Name 8
Name 5