Managing Meetings

Tips on Managing a Meeting or Chairing a Committee

Before

• Clarify your goals for the meeting and draft an agenda.
• Give adequate notice for the meeting. In your pre-meeting communication, explain the purpose and goal of the meeting and provide the meeting agenda to the attendees. Invite attendees to suggest changes to the agenda.
• Have a clear objective for what you want the meeting to accomplish.
• Notify participants what information you expect them to bring to the meeting and what work they should do in preparation for the meeting.

At the beginning

• Re-state the task and duration for the meeting; clarify to whom the group is ultimately accountable and what is at stake.
• Clarify whether the group you are leading is functioning in advisory capacity to an individual or another group, or whether your decisions will directly take effect.
• Start the meeting with introductions and clarify each person’s role in the meeting.
• Get buy-in to the agenda by sharing how it was constructed to produce the given result.

During

• Work through the agenda in sequence, encourage participation by all, and work toward consensus.
• As the meeting proceeds, clarify and summarize decisions or conclusions reached.
• At the end, summarize the results of the meeting and review assignments and follow-up agreements.

After

• Send out notes from the meeting as soon as possible. Include information on what was decided, next steps, and assignments.
• If a member of the group had to miss the meeting, contact the individual to fill him or her in on what happened; or assign someone to do this on your behalf.
• Assess how the meeting went with key colleagues; identify any improvements that need to be made or other follow-up.