Joris van Harmelen: 302627 Management Skills MMO1I

Subject: effective meetings

1) What do you need to make a meeting effective?
2) What are the tasks of the chairperson? Name at least 10.
3) Which tasks are easy and which are difficult for you to execute?
4) Give an example of a situation in which you really missed a chairperson.
5) What could the chairperson have contributed in this specific situation?
6) What types of chairperson are mentioned in the literature?
7) Which type do you think suits you best?
8) How do you prepare yourself as a chairperson?

1) What do you need to make a meeting effective?

There are several guidelines for the chairperson or manager to follow, in order to get
the meeting effective. Of course effectiveness can be a perception but some rules
should sound legit to all members. These are rules like being on time, being
prepared; leave out personal stuff, etc. Next to that the chairperson has to create an
agenda and most important decide wherever a following up meeting is needed, or
not.
2) What are the tasks of the chairperson? Name at least 10.

 The Chairperson has to lead the meeting

 Keep track of the time,
 Encourage good communication and dealing with the topic.
 It is not the chairperson responsibility to have a good outcome but for the
quality of a meeting.
 The chairperson should give a good atmosphere to the group and start with a
short introduction.
 Next to that, the chairperson prepares an agenda for the meeting.
 He or she is also in charge of selecting a secretary and if necessary, a board
writer.
 Furthermore the chairperson summarizes and clarifies.
3) Which tasks are easy and which are difficult for you to execute?
Being prepared is a ground element of chairing. It makes it easy to get on with the
session. It is however difficult at times to get the whole group motivated and
participating for the full 100%. Furthermore I find it hard to keep to the schedule, as it
is hard to predict how long the start up and round off of a task will take.
4) Give an example of a situation in which you really missed a chairperson.
Once we had a meeting for a big event staged at school. As a group of students we
were responsible for getting the acts together. A teacher was appointed as
chairperson. When he did not show up it was hard to do the meeting as most
information just had to be relayed to the chairperson.

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Joris van Harmelen: 302627 Management Skills MMO1I

5) What could the chairperson have contributed in this specific situation?

He would have known what is on the agenda and we could have informed him of the
progress so far and let us know if we were on the right track or not.
6) What types of chairperson are mentioned in the literature?

 Understands how the system works

 Good listener and helpful in conversations
 Good organizing skills
 Ensure the discussion stay on the track
 Keeping the meeting step by step with the group members or, on the other
hand, tell them from above what to do.
7) Which type do you think suits you best?
In my opinion, I can be very dominative in the group, however I try to be a good
listener and helpful in conversation. It eases the group and creates a nice
atmosphere.
8) How do you prepare yourself as a chairperson?
I get familiarize with the task before the session and define the words I do not
understand. Also I try to predict how long it will take for the start up of a new task and
round off of the previous task.

References
Meeting Participants Roles and Responsibilities. (n.d.). Enterprise IT Solutions and
Services | Publishing, IT, Education, Energy, Insurance: Exforsys. Retrieved
September 9, 2013, from http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/meeting-
management/meeting-roles-responsibilities.html
Moust, J. H., Bouhuijs, P. A., & Schmidt, H. G. (2013). Introduction to problem-based
learning: a guide for students (3rd ed.). Groningen [etc.: Wolters-Noordhoff.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2012). Research methods for business
students (6th ed.). Harlow, England: Prentice Hall.

APA formatting by BibMe.org.

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