Chairing Meetings Successfully

1. Chairing Meetings Successfully
By: Bishara Adam 1

2. Definition of Meeting
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A meeting is a gathering of two or more people where positive
discourse occurs.

3. What is a Productive Meeting?
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A productive meeting is where the result of the meeting is
achieved by the creation of something tangible that will help the
overall success of the company.

4. Why have a Meeting?
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 To solve a problem.
 To make a decision.
 To develop a plan.
 To gather or convey information.
 To get a response to information.
 To obtain approval/reach consensus.
 To establish understanding/rapport.
 To clarify responsibilities.
 To create a sense of teamwork.

5. Preparing for Meeting
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Organizing a meeting can be a monumental task in the workplace.
The following are the key steps in attaining the first ingredient to
a successful meeting: preparing, or to assemble, arrange, or
produce a meeting effectively.
1. Create an Appropriate Agenda
2. Define the Meeting Objectives
3. Invite the Right People to the Meeting
4. Choose the Right Time
5. Prepare Information

6. 1. Create an Appropriate Agenda
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This agenda should be
distributed to meeting
participants ahead of time.
It should have any past
review material and the new
issues detailed on the
agenda.
The time and length of the
meeting should be
mentioned in the agenda.

7. 2. Define the Meeting Objectives
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In order for any meeting to
be successful, it has to
accomplish something.
The meeting objectives
detail exactly the point of
why the meeting is being
held and what will be
accomplished.

8. 3. Invite the Right People to the
Meeting
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Once the objectives are created,
the meeting should have the
correct players in order to
achieve the needed goals.
If someone is missing whose
expertise is needed, the entire
meeting is a waste of time.

9. 4. Choose the Right Time
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The meeting time
should be short and the
time used efficiently.
If the meeting runs long,
it is important to ask for
everyone's consent to
extend the time frame.

10. 5. Prepare Information
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It is important to come to the
meeting with all information
needed.
Questions and concerns
should be able to be
addressed.

11. Opening a Meeting
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Inform – Excite – Empower – Involve
Inform – Let the participants know the purpose of the meeting.
Excite – Explain the benefits of the meeting and why this meeting
should be important to them.
Empower – Describe the role they will play or the authority that
has been given to them.
Involve – Get them involved immediately through an engagement
question that furthers the meeting purpose.

12. Inform
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Use words like the following at the beginning of meetings:
“The purpose of this meeting is…When we are done, we will
walk away with…”
These words inform everyone of why we are here (purpose) and
what we will have when we are done (product).
These words help get everyone on the same page.

13. Excite
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The goal of the excite segment is to answer the question, “Why
should I care?”
Without the excite, you may have people in the room, but are they
really at the table?
How do you excite?
You excite by making statements that answer the question for
them, “What’s in it for me?”

14. Empower
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The goal in empowering participants is to ensure that they are
clear on the power they have while in the meeting.
When people feel empowered, they tend to be less hesitant to
participate in discussion and more willing to offer their thoughts
and ideas.
Often a single, focused, empowering statement is adequate.
Other times you may find that multiple statements are needed to
empower a group that is used to being told what to do.

15. Involve
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After delivering the opening, consider getting the participants
immediately involved.
The involvement step engages everyone quickly and prepares
them for the rest of the meeting.
How do you involve participants early in a meeting?
For some teams, it is best to start with a question that is focused
on the task at hand.
For other teams, it may be more appropriate to start with a
question that takes more of a people-focus.

16. Conducting a Meeting
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The next part of a productive meeting is related to how it is
conducted.
Conducting is administrating or orchestrating a meeting in the
workplace by following basic guidelines:
1. Be an Effective Leader
2. Assign a Note Taker

17. 1. Be an Effective Leader
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The leader of the meeting should not take over the meeting and
talk the entire time.
A good leader will listen and ask questions in order to be
productive.
Everyone at the meeting should have an opportunity to talk.

18. 2. Assign a Note Taker
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A note taker should be
assigned to take detailed
notes and then summarize
key points at the end of the
meeting.
It is good to rotate the
assignment of the note taker
for each meeting.

19. Closing a Meeting
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1. Provide a high-level summary of the meeting, avoiding details of
discussions but addressing key points and plans, and making sure
everything that needed to be covered, was covered.
2. Key decisions. Recap the agreed position for each agenda item
to make sure everyone know what has been decided. Make sure
that you have the consensus and support in this.

20. Closing a Meeting
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3. Action assignments. Make sure that action owners know what’s
expected from them, and are in agreement with the desired
outcome and next steps to be taken.
4. Focus on achievement. If your goal has been achieved, or the
immediate course of action is sufficient to reach the goal, call the
meeting a total success and thank everyone for their time. If the
goal is further away, make sure you summarise the progress made,
set a time for the next meeting and tell the action owners you’ll be
following-up with them before hand about these actions.

21. Closing a Meeting
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5. Don’t forget to thank your participants for their attendance and
contribution to the meeting.

22. Causes of Unproductive Meetings
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Purpose of the meeting is unclear.
There is no agenda/organization.
The leader tries to accomplish too much.
The meeting starts late.
Too many people are at the meeting.
The leader loses control.
One person dominates the meeting.
Individuals wander from the topic.
Individuals go back over old items.
No clear direction/no clear conclusions are reached.