How to Run a Successful Meeting
Definition of a meeting “the coming together of two or more people by chance or arrangement” Oxford Languages
The first thing I take issue with in that definition is the word chance. If you are holding a meeting, it involves some preparation and the people attending had better be one of the first things that is solidified!
Preparation is the key to holding a successful meeting as it is with most things in life. I have been part of small groups of people gathering to discuss school lunches at Parent Association meetings to Government Level discussions on mental health inintiatives, the same principles hold true in all situations.
1. Establish a consistent method to communicate the date, time and location.
So simple, right. Yet so many people get in wrong. There are SO many different calendars, apps, ways to communicate that if your organization is constantly switching HOW you communicate your meeting schedule someone is going to get confused and get mixed up. The KISS principle should be applied here. Keep IT Simple Sunshine. If you use a work email, then use everyone’s work email EVERY TIME. Communicate through a Board portal, use that every time. You get the idea. And I can guarantee it will still take several months and several meetings of people arriving late, at the wrong location, etc. until everyone’s on the same page. Been there. Done that, so many t-shirts!
2. Figure out whose running the meeting
Yes, there does have to be someone in charge. Generally they are referred to as the Chair. You can choose to call them whatever term you’d like. Why is this important? The Chair keeps the meeting on track, ensures all opinions are heard, and if needed breaks a tie in a vote. They are the person who are good at listening and mediating if there are difficult topics to discuss. They herd the cats so to speak!
3. Prepare an agenda
I know you’re thinking, it’s just like 4 of us getting together to talk about collecting bottles for my kids soccer team! But you must create an agenda because as humans we like to chat and avoid and talk about everything but what we are supposed to be talking about. This is generally the Chair’s (Director, CEO, leadership position) job. This is especially important if you have a number of issues to cover in a limited amount of time. It doesn’t have to be fancy it can be a few bullets with the topics you need to discuss.
For example:
Pick up areas
Transportation
Timeframe
Goal of bottle collection $
4. Ensure you have all relevant documentation
Let’s say you are having a meeting and you need the projected financials for the upcoming year to make certain decisions about staffing. You look around and no one has the financials. That’s a problem! Once the agenda is prepared, the Chair makes sure that all the necessary information needed is provided. Do they have to get it all? No. It’s called designate. The Chair asks other Board members to provide the information for the meeting. Ah! It’s good to be in charge.
That’s all folks! You now have the basic to begin running a productive and fluid meeting. If you’d like more information on board governance and to dive deeper into the structure of meetings, let me know and I’ll break it down further in another post.
