roles of a meeting chair before during and after meetings

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  • 7/29/2019 Roles of a Meeting Chair Before During and After Meetings

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    Roles Of A Meeting Chair: Before, During And After Meetings

    Contributed by Christian Yaw Gbewordo

    Monday, 07 January 2008 12:35 - Last Updated Monday, 14 January 2008

    Most meetings are used to discuss, to inform, to decide, to organise or to plan. They can be used tocoordinate activities, clarify objectives, and evaluate information and they are helpful in solving

    problems and generating new ideas. Meetings are costly so as the Chairperson its your

    responsibility to ensure that time is not wasted at such sessions through good planning.

    It might be your first time to Chair a meeting, or youve being chairing meetings without achieving

    much results and so youre also asking What Should I Do As Chair Of A Club/Committee Meeting?

    In this presentation, I will seek to succinctly outline some the fundamental roles, responsibilities of

    the Club President, Committee Chair during meetings.

    Many of us have experienced the frustration of wasting valuable time at ineffective meetings. While

    ineffective meetings gobble up valuable time and decrease team productivity, effective meetings

    can greatly contribute to a team's success. Team success, in turn, contributes to the success of the

    organisation.

    Meetings can be a very powerful communication tool and can improve productivity within any

    organization be it Rotaract, LEO, Scouts, etc. As with tools, there are certain procedures and

    techniques you can use to maximise its effectiveness and productivity.

    Productive meetings don't just happen, a lot of behind-the-scenes work must be carried out.

    One of the principal factors that contribute to productive meetings is well-clarified andcommunicated roles.

    The four basic meeting roles present within any meeting be it a regular club meeting, board

    meeting, special meeting, fact-finding meeting will include:

    - Chairperson: determines the meeting objectives and plans, and is responsible for the overall

    direction of the meeting.

    - Facilitator: manages how people work together in the meeting, helps meeting participants clear

    up conflicts, and solve problems quickly.

    - Recorder: keeps track of the vital information from the meeting and keeping it visual, makessure the information is accurate, and helps to distribute it among participants.

    - Participants: a group of individuals with a variety of skills, talents, and personalities; responsible

    for getting the job done, generate ideas, analyse information, make decisions, and implement action

    plans.

    The focus of each role is different, and usually a different person is assigned each role. Sometimes,

    depending on the kind of meeting, one person may perform multiple roles. However, the Chairperson

    role and the Recorder role should be performed by different team members.

    The Distinction between a Meeting Facilitator and a ChairpersonThe Chairperson is driving, or focusing on the content of the meeting, whereas the Facilitator is

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  • 7/29/2019 Roles of a Meeting Chair Before During and After Meetings

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    Roles Of A Meeting Chair: Before, During And After Meetings

    Contributed by Christian Yaw Gbewordo

    Monday, 07 January 2008 12:35 - Last Updated Monday, 14 January 2008

    managing the process of what goes on during the meeting. The Chair is allowed to have an opinion,

    however, the Facilitator must remain neutral.

    Three Fundamental Meeting StagesA basic meeting structure that has proven helpful in overcoming potential meeting pitfalls includes

    these 3 deep-seated stages:

    1. Preparing for the meeting

    2. Conducting the meeting

    3. Evaluating the meeting

    PREPARING FOR THE MEETING

    When it comes to meetings, the expression, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," ringstrue. An hour or two of preparation can save several hours spent at meetings each month.

    Responsibilities of the Chairperson before the meeting

    - Schedules meeting

    - Prepares the agenda

    - Clarifies roles and responsibilities

    CONDUCTING THE MEETING

    Responsibilities of the Chairperson during the meeting:

    - Start the meeting on time

    - Clarify roles and responsibilities

    - Establish ground rules and guidelines

    - Participate as a team member

    - Follow the agenda and keeps the meeting focused on agenda items

    - Retain the power to stop whats happening and change the format

    - Push for accountability

    - Summarise key decisions and actions

    - Record recommendations and allocate responsibilities for specific tasks- Make the most of talent present - ask questions to draw out people with talent and experience

    - Allow time to hear experts (if present) points of view but allocate time with clear directions, for

    example, "We have five minutes to hear the technical reasons why we should support this.

    For important issues when time is limited set up a sub-committee to collect facts, review the

    situation, and prepare recommendations to be considered at the next meeting.

    - Close the meeting on time and on a positive, appreciative and graceful mode.

    EVALUATING THE MEETING

    - Improve each meeting - aim to make each meeting better than the last by analysing what it

    achieved.- Carry out the "post mortem" when you can still remember details of what happened.

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    Roles Of A Meeting Chair: Before, During And After Meetings

    Contributed by Christian Yaw Gbewordo

    Monday, 07 January 2008 12:35 - Last Updated Monday, 14 January 2008

    - Get informal, objective feedback from the participants the meeting and make a note to correct

    any inadequacies.

    - Follow up on agreed commitments - if you want action taken make sure it is perfectly clear who

    is responsible to carry out the tasks recommended by the meeting.

    - An agreed commitment is necessary as to who does what, by when. This should be confirmed in

    writing and is best done in the minutes and again in a follow up reminder to the person who hasagreed to take on a task.

    I trust the above guidelines will help the Club President, Committee Chair or any Meeting Leader

    improve the quality of meetings organised.

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