How to Run A Meeting
Sooner or later, we all end up having to chair a meeting of some sort, whether it's a committee of the homeowners' association or of the board of directors because the chairperson's in Cancun. You run the meeting the same way in each case. Read on to learn how.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Challenging
Instructions
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Every meeting should follow the same basic order: call to order, minutes, reports, old business, new business, adjournment. Simple. Logical. Dispose of the old before diving into new issues. If your group has never had an agenda before, use this simple order. If you already use an agenda, it may differ slightly in detail. Use the one you have unless it's become too complex to make sense.
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Encourage members to contact you with things they want to bring up before the agenda is made instead of at the meeting. Use your agenda to focus the meeting. Refer to the minutes from the last meeting for items of old business on your agenda. Pay attention to any projects or decisions that have been delayed. These may be considered either old or new business. Upcoming issues or issues that need to be assigned to committees or individuals go under new business.
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Be sure that everyone in your group is notified of the meeting (governmental groups have very specific notification procedures). Designate a minute-taker if there is no permanent secretary. Check with committee chairs or officers before the meeting to make sure that they are prepared to present reports.
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Call the meeting to order and run down your agenda in a businesslike manner with as little comment as possible. Discussions should be limited to the motion at hand and only after it has been made and seconded--after it is "on the table." Never start another issue until all motions and amendments on the current issue have been voted on or laid over to another meeting.
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Before a motion is voted on, repeat it (or have the minute-taker read it) and, after the vote, summarize what action has been taken. Make any necessary assignments for implementation.
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After new business is finished, always ask if there is any unfinished business before the group. There may be a question about a decision or something further that a member has just thought of. This unfinished business can generally be either assigned to a committee or individual for report at the next meeting under old business. If any motions are introduced, deal with them as you would any other motion in old or new business.
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Ask for a motion to adjourn to end the meeting. A motion to adjourn does not require a second and the chair (that's you) can go to a vote immediately because a motion to adjourn takes "precedence."
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Tips & Warnings
Roberts Rules of Order were written in 1876 by Henry Martyn Robert, A British Army engineer, after he had a disastrous experience trying to chair a church meeting. He studied various parliamentary forms of ordering meetings and came up with a little book to cover almost any question you might have about reports, motions,amendments--almost anything that might come up. Roberts Rules are the standard by which government, corporations and chartered organizations conduct meetings.
"Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised" can be found in your public library, your bookstore in paperback or on the web. There are also a number of quick-reference charts available.
You don't take minutes at your meetings? How do you know whether you're doing the same thing over and over? The short answer is that you don't. Minutes are used to keep track of decisions as well as any issues that are "laid over" or assignments given to members. You don't need to record everybody's opinion on an issue, just actions taken.
Whether you've been elected to the position or not, the other people at the table are relying on you to keep the meeting focused and as short as possible. Don't disappoint them.
Be sure that the items on your agenda are the only things discussed and dealt with at a meeting. Too often, policy boards waste time doing committee work and committees waste time brainstorming the entire organization's problems. Whatever your group, prepare a relevant agenda and stick to it!
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Comments
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h0wtobem3
May 21, 2008
Thanks for the article about meetings. I think if more people in the corporate world followed these steps we'd have fewer and more productive meetings - both of which are severely lacking in the corporations today. -
llreynolds
Jan 31, 2008
I like the bit about old business. When I was on city councils, it sometimes smelled like something the dog left. On one, we had a "consent agenda" and then new business, finishing with a question from the chair whether there was unfinished business. Another council I served on had old business-new business. In my experience, unfinished business could be business from the current meeting as well as something laid on the table six meetings back. In my experience, specific bodies have their own requirements and establish their own agenda forms. It doesn't matter what you call it as long as you take care of what you started doing in the past before you start a lot of new stuff.
