Conducting Effective

Meetings

by Mrs. Cintrón
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Conducting Effective Meetings

• Why have meetings

• Types of meetings
• Establishing aims and objectives

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What is a Meeting?
Meeting
A scheduled gathering of group
members for a structured
discussion guided by a
designated chairperson

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Conducting Effective Meetings

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Essential Meeting Elements

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Conducting Effective Meetings

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Conducting Effective
Meetings

• Preparation
• Constructing an Agenda
• Agenda Contents

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Conducting Effective Meetings

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Questions for Planning a Meeting
• Why are we meeting?
• Chairing the meeting.
• Who should attend the meeting?
• When should we meet?
• Where should we meet?
• What materials do we need?

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The Need for Agendas
Agenda
The outline of items to be discussed and tasks to be accomplished
during a meeting

An agenda . . .
• is an organizational tool.
• helps members prepare for a meeting.
• is a time management tool.
• provides a measure of success.

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A Business Meeting Agenda
• Purpose of Meeting • Approval of
• Names of Group Previous Meeting’s
Members—present Minutes
or absent • Individual and
• Date, Time, and Committee Reports
Place • Unfinished Business
• Call to Order • New Business
• Approval of the • Announcements
Agenda • Adjournment

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Ways in which meetings can go wrong
include

• dealing with trivial issues at length

• failing to deal with major issues adequately
• being badly chaired
• being dominated by arguments between factions
• going on too long
• drifting into digressions
• failing to reach conclusions

Mary Mukami Njoroge | 12

Chairperson’s Pre-Meeting
Tasks
• Notify members
• Distribute materials
• Remind members
• Prepare for discussion

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Chairperson’s Tasks
During the Meeting
• Begin on time
• Delegate minutes
• Follow the agenda
• Facilitate the discussion
• Provide closure

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Conducting Effective Meetings

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Chairperson’s Post-Meeting
Tasks
• Evaluate the meeting
• Distribute the minutes
• Monitor assigned tasks

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Common Disruptive Behaviors
• Nonparticipants
• Loudmouths
• Interrupters
• Whisperers
• Latecomers
• Early Leavers

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Dealing with Loudmouths
How to deal with loudmouths:
• Acknowledge that you understand their
positions.
• Interrupt them and shift the focus to other
members.
• Tell them the group needs input from
everyone.
• Assign them side-line tasks (e.g., taking
minutes) that shift them from talking to
listening and writing.

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How to Deal with Disruptive
Behavioral Problems
• Nonparticipants:
________________________________________________
_______________________________________
• Interrupters:
________________________________________________
________________________________________
• Whisperers:
________________________________________________
________________________________________
• Latecomers and Early Leavers:
________________________________________________
________________________________________

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Preparing the Minutes
The minutes of a meeting are . ..

• the written record of a group’s discussion

and activities.
• legal documents as well as historical records
of organization business.
• a way to share what happens with members
who don’t attend.
• a way to prevent disagreement over member
assignments and group decisions.

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What to Include in the Minutes
• Name of the group • Time the meeting was
• Date and place of called to order
meeting • Time the meeting
• Names of attending adjourned
members • Name of person
• Name of the chair preparing the minutes
• Names of absent • Summary of discussion
members and decisions including
action items

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Taking Minutes
• Write clear statements that summarize the
meeting’s main ideas and actions.
• Word decisions, motions, action items, and
deadlines exactly as the group makes them.
• If in doubt, ask the group for clarification.
• Attach the agenda and any reports to the
final copy of the minutes.

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Guidelines for Taking Minutes
• Report the facts and all sides of a discussion
accurately.
• _________________________________
• _________________________________
• _________________________________
• Always keep in mind that the minutes are a public
record of the meeting.

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Post-Meeting Evaluation
• Was the meeting’s goal clear?
• Was the agenda useful and followed?
• How prepared were group members?
• Did everyone have an equal chance to
participate?
• Did members listen effectively and consider
different points of view?
• Were assignments and deadlines made clear by
the end of the meeting?

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• Meetings of more than two people are held in
organizations for a variety of reasons, of which the most
important are to:
• communicate information;
• contribute to management control;
• make decisions and solve problems.

• At management control meetings, information collected

during monitoring is reviewed, and decisions are made
about any necessary modifications to operations.
• Meetings to make decisions and solve problems need
sufficient information if they are to achieve their
purpose.

Mary Mukami Njoroge | 25

• Ways in which meetings can go wrong include:
• dealing with trivial issues at length
• failing to deal with major issues adequately
• being badly chaired
• being dominated by arguments between factions
• going on too long
• drifting into digressions
• failing to reach conclusions.

Mary Mukami Njoroge | 26

• To help avoid these problems, careful preparation is
needed. In preparing for a meeting you need to
consider:
• who should attend
• when and where it will be held
• what information participants should receive in advance
• what your role will be.
 
 

Mary Mukami Njoroge | 27

• If you are chairing a meeting you need to ensure
that:
• the agenda is followed without cutting off
valuable discussion
• no one dominates the meeting
• everyone has the opportunity to contribute
• participants keep to the point
• any decisions are made by general agreement.

Mary Mukami Njoroge | 28

• To be an effective contributor to a meeting you need to:
• be assertive
• listen carefully
• read other people’s body language and adapt your own
to give the right signals
• speak clearly and to the point
• ask questions that will get an informative reply.

• Drawing up an action plan plays an important role in

ensuring that decisions made at meetings are
implemented.

Mary Mukami Njoroge | 29