CONDUCTING MEETINGS

Why preparation is needed

• Professionals of all the fields all over the World

spend a large part of their working hours attending
meetings.

•But these meetings if not organized well become a

wastage of time.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Chairperson, Coordinator, Time, Venue, Agenda
and Handouts
• Appoint a Chairperson and Coordinator of the meeting.
(Chairperson should be a senior person who commands respect
of the participants. He has to direct and control the meeting.).

• Coordinator to finalize names of participants, agenda, date,

time and venue of the meeting along with any handouts if they
are to be distributed for the meeting, in consultation with the
Chairperson.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Chairperson, Coordinator, Time, Venue, Agenda
and Handouts
• Coordinator to send out meeting requests to all
concerned parties specifying the date, time and venue of the
meeting along with agenda of the meeting and handouts if any
for the meeting. Wordings of the request to start with:
‘<designation of the Chairperson> has called for a meeting ---.

•Request must specify that participants should go thru the

agenda points and the handouts AND should come prepared
for the meeting.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Chairperson, Coordinator, Time, Venue,
Agenda and Handouts

• If the meeting is a teleconference with participants

from multiple time zone locations, meeting request to
contain the date and time of the various time zones.

• Coordinator must cross check with the participants that

they have received the meeting communication and that
they are going to attend the meeting.
 CONDUCTING METINGS
Agenda and Handouts
• Agenda means list of all issues/ points/ topics which are to be
discussed/ deliberated upon in the meeting. It is essential to circulate
it in advance so that participants can come prepared for the meeting.
Preferably, these points can even be enumerated in brief on the
whiteboard in the meeting room, allowing everyone to be aware of
the agenda and helping the Chairperson keep an eye on it at all times.

• If handouts are to be distributed for the meeting, make sure you do

it well before the meeting so that attendees will have sufficient time
to read them and will be well prepared for the meeting.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Place, Material and Tea Breaks
• The Coordinator to arrange a discussion room large enough to hold
the requisite number of attendees. Discussion room should make
participants feel comfortable and it should also be disturbance free.

• Coordinator to also arrange for materials such as projector,

computer, slides, whiteboard and markers etc.

• If meeting is to last 3-4 hours or more, Coordinator should make it

a point to have Tea/ Coffee breaks every two hours or so. It helps
participants to freshen up and to attend to the natural and urgent
calls.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Punctuality:
• The Participants must reach the meeting place at least five minutes
before the start of the meeting and take their seats.

• Late coming means that the person coming late has no respect for
the time of his other colleagues who have come on time for the
meeting. IF YOU WANT RESPECT, GIVE IT.

• Late coming means time loss for the Organisation. If 12 people

were to come for a meeting, 10 came on time and 2 came 10
minutes late, it means Organisation lost 100 minutes of valuable
time of participants who came on time.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Punctuality:
• Late coming could also mean that the person coming late
does not consider the issues to be discussed in the meeting as
important.

• Late coming could annoy people coming on time as their

time is also important and may lead to bad blood between the
participants.

• It could prompt others also to come late in future meetings

and the purpose of calling meetings will get lost.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
The focus on agenda:
•Often, despite maintaining an agenda and adhering strictly to time
and schedule on a few points, the discussion deteriorates into heated
debates. At this point, the Chairperson must ensure an objective
discussion. Also, if a member starts rambling for hours without any
end in sight, he must be brought back on track. It should be made
clear that although brainstorming is acceptable, digression into
irrelevant territory is entirely unwelcome.

• Chairperson must ensure that each point of the agenda is discussed

in detail and decisions taken on them before the meeting wraps up.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
The focus on agenda:
• Ifany participant wants to discuss a point which is not part of the
agenda, then it could be discussed provided all agenda points have
been discussed, time is available and the Chairperson has consented
to the discussion.

• ATTACK THE PROBLEM, NOT PERSON – Do not behave in

a manner which forces a participant to go on defensive because then
that person will loose objectivity. Responsibility – Chairperson.

• Do not brush aside any suggestion unless it has been properly

debated. Respect every suggestion. Responsibility – Chairperson.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Give chance to everybody to speak:
• Some participants hesitate to speak though they may have really useful
contribution to make. If they are not encouraged to speak up, we may not
be able to reach at the best possible decision. Responsibility -
Chairperson.

No overpowering:
Some participants want that only their voice be heard by interrupting
when others are speaking or by asking others to keep quite. Such
tendencies should not be allowed. Responsibility – All participants in
general and Chairperson in specific.

Switch off Mobile Phones during the meeting:

It disturbs the flow of the discussion. It also disturbs other participants
and the attention of the receiver gets diverted to the phone call.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Give respect to dissenting voice:
• If some participant
is opining which is different than the opinion of
majority, it should be given due respect as he is probably
highlighting the risks associated with majority opinion.
Responsibility - All participants in general and Chairperson in
specific.

Be objective, not subjective:

• Best decisions are made by objectively collecting, analyzing and
debating over the relevant data. If some problem is being
discussed, go to the root cause. Subjectivity could lead to making
wrong choices. Responsibility – all participants.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Responsibility, time frame and resources required for
implementing decisions:

• When a point has been deliberated to the extent that a

decision is taken about it, it should also be decided as to who
will implement that decision and within what time frame. It
should also be discussed as to what additional resources will
be required to implement that decision and how and by what
time these resources shall be provided.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Taking notes:
• In the duration of the meeting, several points and ideas will be
thrown up which, if not documented, will evaporate into thin air
well before the end. Therefore, it is best for the Chairperson to
appoint one person to jot down notes during the meeting. It is
better still if two persons take notes just in case one misses out
something important.

Minutes of the meeting:

At the end of the meeting, the person assigned should note down
the minutes to create a document and circulate it amongst all
attendees. Such a document typically contains the date and time
of the meeting, names of attendees, the agenda and, against each
of the points on the agenda, the action items.
 CONDUCTING MEETINGS
Conclusion:
• When all points on the agenda have been discussed to the
satisfaction of all parties, the Chairperson should wrap up by
briefly reading out the salient points of all that has been
discussed, including action to be taken once people return to their
work. The minutes of the meeting is a good starting point to
follow up with team members in the following days if necessary
action has been taken, as discussed.

Follow up:
•Responsibility to follow up and check whether the decisions
taken in the meeting are being implemented or not lies with the
Coordinator of the meeting. Any deviations should be brought to
the notice of the Chairperson