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How to Run a Meeting

This guide aims to show the importance of thinking about your meetings. It’ll identify common core problems, and give you a structure and strategy to help plan meetings better.

What goes wrong with meetings?

We’ve all been in bad meetings, and we all know what it was that made them bad! So why do we continue to have bad meetings? The answer is we don’t ‘think’ about them.

So, what are the core problems that lead to all those things that go wrong in meetings? Here are a few suggestions:

• Poor planning/no preparation
• No ‘meeting strategy’
• Poorly facilitated
• Not outcome-oriented
• Poorly followed-up

You’ll notice that all of these can be avoided by simply thinking about your meetings.

Meeting Strategies

It’s a good idea for any group to have a ‘meeting strategy’ for the year ahead. You should all sit down at the beginning and decide how all your meetings should run (bear in mind all the issues coming up, like planning, types of meeting, meeting technique, etc). When your whole group knows the score everything will be much easier and you’ll all get on much better.

The 5 Questions

Planning a meeting is simple. Just remember these 5 questions:

What? What do you need to discuss? What else is on the agenda? Is there one specific issue, or several?

Why? What do you want to achieve from the meeting? This could be to solve a problem, plan an activity, get progress reports, among others. It’s best to have an initial idea of what you want to achieve, and work towards that objective.

When? How far in advance should it be planned? What time of day? Day of week? All of these factors affect who can come, how quick it will be etc.

Where? In a meeting room, café, bar, someone’s house, in a corridor...? The venue affects how the meeting will run.

Who? Based on all this, who NEEDS to come? It’s pointless forcing people to come if they have no role, although they shouldn’t feel they are being excluded.

The 4 Types of Meetings

Not many realise it, but there are different types of meetings. Many groups try and have too many of one type, and therefore some material is just not appropriate in those meetings. Meetings can be either FORMAL or INFORMAL, depending on how structured and serious they are. They can also be either GENERAL or SPECIFIC in what they cover.

This therefore gives 4 types of meeting:

FORMAL-GENERAL

These are the big meetings where everyone is present and has something to say. They should only be held occasionally, and their sole purpose is to get progress reports so that the whole group is up-to-speed on all the activities. They have the potential to be long and dull, so avoid lengthy discussions.

INFORMAL-GENERAL

These should be encouraged! They can be held in a pub/café/restaurant, and everyone should be invited (including newcomers). Their main role is in teambuilding and socialising, but you can also get some business and discussion done at the same time (although you may need to arrange a formal-specific meeting for further discussion).

FORMAL-SPECIFIC

These have a role in dealing with major problems, ideas or issues. They should be held as and when needed, and only the people relevant to the issue need come. It’s important to keep focused, so that a positive outcome is achieved. They can cover more than one issue, but it is best not to have too many.

INFORMAL-SPECIFIC

These often occur when you randomly bump into someone in the corridor or café. They can also be arranged ‘ad hoc’ when the opportunity arises. They can be good for chatting through a not particularly urgent issue in detail. This saves time later, and helps break down complex matters.

The 3 Stages of Meetings

Always remember that there are 3 stages to any meeting - BEFORE, DURING and AFTER!

It seems obvious, but it’s just as important that a meeting is well planned, prepared and then followed-up, as it is to facilitate it well. Some bright spark once said, “90% of a meeting occurs before and after the meeting”! Very true!

Before

Someone should be in charge of planning the meeting. This includes asking the ‘5 Questions’ and deciding which type to have. They should write up the agenda and send this out in advance. Each point on the agenda should be prepared beforehand, so that the meeting runs more quickly and efficiently. Of course, also make sure everyone knows where and when it is.

During

It’s important that you have a good meeting technique that is known to everyone. The next section will focus on this. Also try and make sure the meeting is as relevant and interesting as possible. Most importantly, be ‘Outcome Oriented’ – always be thinking about what the Action Plan is.

After

Make sure that all the Action Points are followed up on and carried out. Avoid writing up detailed minutes and sending these out. Instead, summarise the Action Points (perhaps with a brief explanation of why) and send these out.

Meeting Technique

The aim of having a meeting technique is to make the meeting run as efficiently and smoothly as possible, giving everyone their fair say, and resulting in an Action Plan that everyone agrees with. It’s also important that everyone feels part of the team, and this means you need to ENJOY YOURSELF too – in other words, don’t be too formal at the expense of having fun!

There are 3 Golden Rules:

1. Lay out some Ground Rules

When planning your Meeting Strategy, come up with a list of ‘Ground Rules’. These are things that everyone agrees to abide by during the meetings, purely for the sake of having a productive meeting. They might include ‘Turn off mobile phones’ and ‘Turn up on time’. It’s totally up to you and your team. Everyone who comes to the meetings needs to be aware of these ground rules.

2. Assign key roles in the meetings (Chair, Facilitator, Recorder, Speaker).

Chair: the Chair should always be thinking, “Where is this going?”. In other words, it is the Chair’s job to make sure the discussions are heading towards an outcome. They should be a strong leader when required, taking decisions to cut short discussions, scrap points on the agenda, step in on a dispute etc.

Facilitator: the Facilitator should always be thinking, “Whose turn is it next?”. In other words the Facilitator’s role is to ensure everyone gets their turn to speak and that the meeting runs smoothly and to time (by enforcing the Ground Rules). They should not really give their own opinion. The Facilitator can also suggest and employ techniques to help the meeting along, e.g. a brainstorming session.

Recorder: a fairly obvious role – the Recorder takes minutes! They also make sure that points are clarified, as it is often only when you have to write something down that you realise how confusing it is. They can summarise points and read out Action Points and decisions.

Speaker: the speaker changes depending on the point on the agenda. They should have prepared their point before the meeting, so this should be a simple case of summarising the issue and perhaps giving a list of options or matters for discussion.

3. Be Outcome-Oriented

Everyone, but especially the Chair, should always be working towards the objective of achieving something. Everyone should be thinking about what the next ‘Action Point’ should be. These should all be written down by the Recorder, summarised at the end, and followed up on by someone.

One final Golden Rule

Enjoy yourself! All this information is designed to be used as tools, not rules. Hopefully this will help you run your group better, but you’ll find it’s all nothing unless you and the rest of your team enjoy doing it! You need to find the right balance between employing techniques and strategies, and just ‘winging it’ and having fun.

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Last updated on Monday 08 September 2008 at 19:35.