Meeting management is an important skill for leaders and managers to master. Achieving the right outcome in an efficient way hinges on running a good meeting. For this readon planning appropriately before meetings becomes very important.

There are different types of meetings and the process to conduct a meeting will depend on the type of meeting and what is trying to be achieved. Listed below are various types of meetings:

• planning meetings
• problem solving meetings
• staff meetings
• board meetings
• project specific meetings.

Each meeting will require a different process and type of conduct depending on what the objective is for the meeting. However, there are common threads that are needed for any type of meeting to be effective and some of them are listed below:

• Clear focus – everyone attending the meeting should be aware what the objective of the meeting is and why they need to attend.
• Agenda and structure – the meeting should have a precirculated agenda so everyone is comfortable with the structure of the meeting.
• Sign-posting – each meeting should start with an introduction and a summary of what the meeting is about and what needs to be done in the meeting. The work and discussion will take place and then each meeting should finnish with a quick round-up of what was decided.
• Driver or leader – the meeting should be chaired by someone who can ensure enough time is spent on each agenda item but that conversation stays focussed on the task at hand.
• Expectation – each attendee should be clear on what is expected from them at the meeting and also the behaviour that is expected
• Follow-up – after each meeting there should be a way of summarising key points and actions – this could be formal minutes or less formal notes/sum up at the end of the meeting

You can read more about managing board meetings in the section on Board Communication

You can read more about AGMs in the section about the role of the secretary

In this section you can find information on the following:

Selecting participants

Developing an agenda

Opening meetings

Establishing ground rules

Time management

Evaluation of meeting process

Closing meetings

Downloads:

Managing Meetings.pdf

A guide to how a meeting should be managed for the participant to get the most of of it.

Planning a Great Meeting.pdf

How to plan for a great meeting, the preparation that can make the difference between good and bad meetings.

Taking Meeting Minutes.doc

A guide to how meeting minutes should be taken for them to be most effective later on.